Chicago Conference: 2010
Table of Contents
Discouragement & Encouragement
Address—Bill Prost
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Could we begin by singing him 171?
171 He bids us come, his voice we know, and boldly on the waters go to him, our God and Lord.
171.
He bids us from his voice.
I'd like you to turn with me this morning to the book of First Samuel.
First Samuel, chapter 18.
And I'd like to do something this morning.
That, I hope will not be a problem to anyone.
I like, as it were, to skip a stone through some of the incidents in Davide life before he became king.
And in doing that, I'm going to have to assume a certain measure of.
Understanding and knowledge.
Of what David went through because time won't allow us to read in detail.
Every incident that we are going to refer to.
If you haven't read the story of David in his time of rejection and in his.
00:05:00
Ascension to the Throne. I suggest that you read it.
And I might mention, although this address is not particularly for young people.
But let us remember that in all the occasions to which we will refer this morning, David was only in his 20s, probably his early 20s.
And let's.
Some of us that are older.
Off the hook, does it? No, it doesn't. It speaks to all of us, but it speaks particularly to young people because we are living in a day.
Of real difficulty.
And I know that it is a wonderful privilege to be able to gather together like this, to have the Ways and Means to do it, to do so in peace and quietness. And we're thankful for it. But the devil is attacking as never before, and our own poor hearts sometimes form only two ready material for him to work with, don't they?
And what I'd like to talk about this morning is discouragement and encouragement.
And we are going to find in Davide life that there were periods of real discouragement.
And we may say at the outset.
The discouragement ultimately stems.
From our expecting something from someone.
And not getting it.
Are expecting something from someone and not getting it is the ultimate root of discouragement.
Very often it's discouragement because I have expected something from man.
It might even be the world, it might be fellow Christians, my brethren, but sometimes discouragement results. And we have to be honest with our hearts and say that discouragement results from our expecting something from the Lord.
And when it doesn't happen, or at least not within our time frame and in the way that we expected it.
We can be discouraged.
Turning then to First Samuel, chapter 18.
Excuse me?
We find that David had killed Goliath in the previous chapter.
And had won a wonderful victory for the Lord and for Israel.
But because of that, and because of David's character.
Because of his ability in warfare.
We find that he excited one of the oldest, one of the most prevalent, one of the most devastating of sins in the human heart.
Envy.
Envy wanting someone, or rather wanting something that someone else has.
Something that God has not given me.
And we find Saul envies David and Isaac from that day forward.
But we notice at the end of the chapter it says in verse 28, First Samuel 18, and verse 28. And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michael, Saul's daughter, loved him. And Saul was yet the more afraid of David, and Saul became David's enemy continually. Then the Princess of the Philistines went forth.
And it came to pass after they went forth that David behaved himself.
More wisely than all the servants of Saul.
So that his name was much set by.
I believe I'm looking at those who in their hearts have a real desire to please the Lord. I know you do. If you truly belong to Christ, you have a new life in Christ that wants to please Him. And I know that there are many today who really want to please the Lord.
But the devil, as we remarked a few moments ago, is using every means in his power in order to attack and to discourage. As we said in the prayer meeting, he's attacking those in some countries without right persecution, making life so difficult that in some cases dear believers are giving up and turning away from the name of Christ. In North America, he is using different tactics.
00:10:08
And he is attacking us by prosperity, by liberal thinking, by secular humanism, by infidelity that is creeping up on us on every hand, and by challenging in every way the truth of the Word of God.
We find here that David not only was the enemy of the Philistines, who were from in that sense without, but God allowed Saul, who was the rightful king at that time. Although David had by this time been anointed king, God hadn't seen fit to remove Saul yet, and so Saul was God's rightful king. God suffered to allow Saul's envy to be directed against David to the point where.
David became Saul's enemy.
Do you know that can be very, very difficult because sometimes God allows you and me to be the envy of and the enemy of those who are right within the profession of Christianity. I don't personally believe that Saul was a born again soul, but we leave that for now. The point is that he was an Israelite and he took the place of being the Lords and on occasion he had prophesied and had used the name of the Lord.
But here we find he became David's enemy, and we find that the Princess of those Philistines.
Who at that time were the enemies of Israel, and continued to be so. They also had their eye on David.
And yet David's attitude is remarkable, and I commend it to each one here.
He behaved himself wisely.
And in the chapter it says more wisely, and here it says.
Or rather, very wisely. And here it says more wisely.
And it is a day when you and I need wisdom from the Lord, because there are ditches on both sides.
Excuse me?
There are ditches on both sides of the road, and if the devil cannot push me into the ditch of liberalism and looseness, he is quite happy to push me into the ditch of legality and sectarianism on the other side.
And in order to be able to walk before the Lord, we need to know how to behave ourselves wisely. And I say to your heart and to mind, this involves constant and steady dependence on the Lord.
Not walking according to a list of rules, not necessarily being dependent on the faith of others, but rather an individual relationship with the Lord.
While we go on here because we don't have time to consider all this in detail.
But as we go on here a little bit.
We find that David was compelled to flee. Chapter 22.
Chapter 22.
A lot had happened in the meanwhile.
Saul's son Jonathan had tried to support David and it became very clear that Saul was not going to relent, but was determined to kill David. And so it says in chapter 22 and verse one. David therefore departed thence and escaped to The Cave of Dalam.
Verse two. And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves under him, and he became a captain over them, and there were with him about 400 men.
This was a very difficult thing for David. We didn't read the sentence, but it says all that all his brethren came down to him.
And that must have been a real encouragement. But at the same time, for a young man in his 20s, compelled to run away from his home, to run away from all that was near and dear to him, to take refuge in the wilderness and to be there never knowing when someone was going to seek his life, must have been a very, very difficult thing.
And more than this, look at the company of men that were gathered unto him. If we could use a common expression, were they the cream of the crop?
Not by any means, Not by any means. They were the misfits of society.
If I can say it, they were the kind of young men that probably would end up being in a gang today because they didn't fit where they were. They were in distress, they were in debt.
00:15:07
Why do young men and sometimes even young women get into gangs? Because they don't feel accepted in society as it is. And they want to feel accepted. They want to feel part of something. They want to feel as if they can do something. And so they foreign themselves into gangs. And it would almost seem, although it wasn't that by any means, but it would almost seem that the people that came to David down there in the wilderness were the kind of material for a gang.
You know, if you and I look at ourselves as believers, I don't mean that that's the kind of people we are.
For making up a good gang.
But Paul tells us in First Corinthians one, that God didn't pick the noble people in this world. He didn't pick those that were particularly, as we said a moment ago, the cream of the crop. No, God is glorified in taking those that are nothing in this world and making them into something.
And it was David that made these men into the kind of people that could go out and accomplish tremendous feats in the military. It was David that made these men into a fighting force that was something to be reckoned with. It wasn't what they were naturally. And I say to you and to me, it's only what you and I are in Christ that really counts. It's not what we are naturally. We're nothing naturally. And if I can speak of my own heart without pointing the finger at others.
Most of us that the Lord is saved were not necessarily the nicest persons in this world know God picked the base things of this world and the things which are not. It says in Corinthians to bring the knot things that are. And so David had these misfits around him, but he was compelled to seek refuge in the wilderness.
And we might wonder why the Lord allowed that. We might wonder why the Lord brought that into David's life.
He'd been a tremendous man. He'd won victories out in the field fighting with a lion and a bear when he kept sheep out of the sight of the public eye. He'd won a tremendous victory for Israel with the Lords strength in killing Goliath. He had gone out on other occasions and defeated the Philistines, and so much so that the women sang about him, saw his slain his thousands and David his 10 thousands.
And now what? The king of all people turns against him, and he's compelled to flee for his life and go out and take refuge in the wilderness. And here he's surrounded by all this rabble of men.
That didn't fit into society. Why did the Lord allow it?
I would suggest at least one reason, and there may be more.
If David was going to be God's king, if David was going to rise to a position of authority and administration in Israel.
If he was going to be the one to lead his people to know the Lord in a better and fuller way.
He had to come to know the Lord.
By seeing everything else around him fail him.
And I say to your heart and mine, and if I may be so bold to address the young people today because David was a young man.
God is going to test you and me today, and he's going to test you.
Perhaps by taking away from you everything except the Lord in order to test you and have to say, as it were, am I enough? Am I enough? You and I in North America have enjoyed prosperity for many years, and we have enjoyed the privilege of coming together in conferences such as these. We have enjoyed the opportunities of wonderful fellowship. We have enjoyed many things that much of this world, that is the Christian world.
Does not have.
And sometimes I believe in these last days, God is testing you and me in order.
Not to make us miserable, but in order to bring us closer to the Lord.
By taking everything else away.
And so we find that David is driven out into the wilderness.
Was it fun? It was rough. It was rough.
Some of us here, and I'm one of them, have enjoyed going out wilderness camping.
But we always took enough food in our backpack to last for the time that we were out there.
And we always knew that at the end of that week we would be returning back home to civilization.
00:20:06
But Can you imagine the logistics of trying to feed all these men, 400 of them, in the wilderness?
No small job and no doubt they looked to David as leader.
In order to provide for them and to look after them.
Quite a responsibility for a young man in his 20s. And they looked to David for spiritual leadership. Where do we go now, David? What do we do? How do we handle this? And David had to be much before the Lord.
There was a time down the road when the Lord allowed a difficulty where the Amalekites invaded Ziklag.
Burn the city with fire took all the families of these men captives and the basic.
Shall we say nature of these men came to the surface to the point where they spoke of stoning. David. David, you got us into this fix. You put us here. And now look, the enemies have burned our city and taken our families captive.
Very, very difficult.
And I say to your heart and mind, though, it's a wonderful thing to get to the point.
Not that I pretend to have gotten there, but it's a wonderful thing to get to the point.
Where we are only before the Lord, and we say, Lord, I have nothing but thee.
And I have to be dependent totally on you, because I have nothing, no one else.
Well, let's go on here. What happens?
As David forgotten his people, Israel, not by any means. Chapter 23.
I.
Verse one.
Then they told David saying behold the Philistines fight against Kila and they robbed the threshing floors. Kila was a city in Israel.
Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go and smite the Philistines, and save Keela. Verse five So David and his men went tequila and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle and smoked them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Kila.
Wonderful deliverance. David goes up on their behalf. Drives the Philistines out, delivers the city.
Saves them from having all the fruits of their harvest taken away by the Philistines.
By the way, the Philistines, they have a significance.
Spiritually, in our day, they were right in the land.
And as we find from time to time, they had some knowledge of the true God.
And we find that the king of the Philistines would even use the name of Jehovah on occasion.
But they were a thorn in the flesh of the Israelites.
From within the land, they weren't an attack from without, they were from within. And I believe it would speak a professing Christendom. It would speak of those who have a knowledge of the true God, but without the reality being there. Now you and I are part of Christendom, don't get me wrong.
But Christendom is composed of those that are real and those that are not. And I suggest the Philistines would speak of professing Christendom, and they were a thorn in the side of Israel.
Well, what do we find here? What kind of men were these people in Kila?
Verse 12.
Saul was going to come down to Kela, and what kind of thing was going to happen? Verse 12 Then said David, will the man of Keela deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said they will deliver the up.
Ouch.
That's gratitude for you, isn't it?
Here David and his men had risked their lives to defeat the Philistines, to save Kela from their hand. And now the Lord says to David, yes, Saul's going to come down. And David says, if he comes down, will the man of Keela deliver me up into Saul's hand? Lord says, yes, David, they will.
You know, sometimes you and I, it's a very humbling thing.
Brings tears to our eyes.
But sometimes the Lord allows it, that even the people of God, and maybe in cases sometimes those to whom you have done a favor.
Because of.
Well, the world has a term, pragmatism.
00:25:02
What does that mean? Pragmatism means if it works, it must be all right.
And when Saul was king and he had the power, then the man of Keela. All right, David, you saved us. But now we'll save our own skins in another way by delivering you up to Saul, even though you risked your life to save us.
You can imagine how that felt to David.
But then let's go on verse 19.
Then came up the Zephytes to Saul to give you saying, doth not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood?
In the hill of Hakila, which is on the South of Jeshiman. Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down, and our part shall be to deliver him into the King's hand. The Zephytes men that dwelt close to this wilderness of zip.
They sent a message to Saul. Saul, come on down. We know where David is. You want you want him.
It'll be our privilege to deliver him up into your hand.
You know, David is a type of the Lord Jesus in all of this because the Lord Jesus went about doing good wherever he went.
And in many cases, it only excited the envy. In fact, it even uses that word concerning the chief priests and the scribes.
And when occasions served them, and when it seemed suitable, no doubt some of those very people for whom the Lord had done some of those mighty miracles.
Turned against him and were ready and willing to see him crucified.
And if you and I are going to follow the Lord in these last days.
I say it to your heart and mind.
We will be called upon to walk in the steps of the Master, and you may find that even those to whom you have sought to do something good.
Those to whom you have sought to be faithful, those to whom you have sought to be helpful when the occasion arises and it suits their ends will turn against you and it's very, very hard to take.
And I believe we see here, even though it doesn't say it particularly, that David became discouraged.
We find going on to chapter 24 and we won't read it there because time doesn't allow us, but we find in chapter 24 that the Lord allows an occasion that ought to have been an encouragement to David.
David and his men were hiding in a cave.
You young fellas here, you can just imagine that cave and it must have been a big one.
I don't know whether all of those 400 men were in there, but a good number of them evidently were.
And Saul goes into that cave.
Unwittingly not knowing that David news men were in there and when Saul was in there.
David was able to sneak up on him.
And cut off the skirt of his garment.
I guess as a boy I always used to think what fun that would have been to sneak up on Saul and see if I could pull that off without his being able to detect it.
David did it.
Not just to see if he could do it.
But it was no doubt to show saw as he did afterward by holding up the fringe of that garment and saying, Saul, see, I could have just as easily have used that knife that I cut the border of your garment off with. I could have used that knife to kill you if I'd wanted to take the opportunity. But I didn't. And it ought to have been an encouragement to David that the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. And I say to your heart and mind, because we don't have time to read the incident.
I say whenever you and I are in difficult circumstances and we are on the brink of discouragement.
I don't want to say this about everyone, but I can't believe that the experience will be different with you.
Than with me but I can only talk about my own life. But I have heard similar stories from others.
The justice at the point came when they were on the brink of real discouragement. The Lord allowed an incident, maybe not a big one, but an incident in their life to show that he was with them, to give them just a little bit of a boost to say, don't worry, I'm over all of this. I am in it all. I have everything under my control. And this incident of David's cutting off the skirt of Saul's garment, I believe was like that.
00:30:08
We use the expression of shot in the arm, and it ought to have been like that to David.
But David?
Was discouraged, and we find that there were two results in David's life of discouragement, one of them of which is in the next chapter, which I'd like to refer to chapter 25.
There were two results.
Moral content of which I believe can be transferred to your life and mine.
In chapter 25, what do we find?
David and his men, as we said a few minutes ago.
Must have had trouble providing for themselves in the wilderness.
And feeding 400 young men every day must have been a formidable job.
And here was a man by the name of Nabal, who was a wealthy man.
And he was shearing his sheep at that time.
So David and his men undertake to protect his flock of sheep, which evidently was a very necessary thing. There was a danger from wild animals, there was a danger from robbers from different directions, and David and his men protected everything he had so that nothing was ever missing.
And then David sends his messengers to Nabal to receive something.
Now remember who David was, the anointed king of Israel, the one who had killed Goliath and won that victory.
And that was no secret. Everyone knew about that David's name.
Was not unknown.
What happens?
I Samuel 25.
And verse.
Five verse verse five First Samuel 25 and David set out his ten young men.
And David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity. Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
And now I have heard that thou hast shearers now thy shepherds which were with us. We hurt them not, neither was their aught missing under them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore let thy young men find favour in thine eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
Verse 10 And Abel answered David's servants, and said, Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse?
There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh, which I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence?
Baby.
Nabel didn't want to give anything to David said, as it were. There are lots of men that run away from their masters and go out and want to strike out on their own. Am I going to support this rabble group of men who I don't even know who they are?
Was that true? Was that honest? Of course not. He knew who David was. Of course he did. Everyone did.
It was very difficult.
But I see again remember.
If I can only emphasize this, and it's hard because I need it so much for my own soul.
So please don't think I'm pointing the finger at you.
It is very, very difficult not to react in the wrong way when we are on the receiving end of that which is totally unjust, totally unwarranted. David once again, had done Nabal a favor.
And Naval refuses to accept anything that David had done or to give him a thing.
But David's reaction betrays his discouragement. Notice verse 13.
And David said unto his men, Gird yon every man his sword.
Again, we don't have time to go into the rest of the story. We know how well it ended. We know how the Nabal's young men knew that evil was determined against neighbor and they went and told his wife, who was a woman who had real integrity and real wisdom, and how she interceded for Nabal and went out with a gift for David and prevented David's coming and doing harm to Naval's family.
00:35:22
And to all those that worked with him.
But the point we want to make is that David was ready to go with his sword and with his young men.
And we find later on in the chapter that he said, I am going to go up there and there won't be one man left alive, not one male left alive in Nabel's household by the morning light.
He meant business.
I suggest, without wanting to be critical, that these things were written for our learning.
Because.
Excuse me?
There is a danger in our lives.
Of wanting to fight against the people of God. Did Nabal deserve it? Indeed he did, and the scripture records the kind of character that he was. And even his wife recognized it. So did his servants.
But that didn't give David the right to go and get him over and over again. David wouldn't let his men, nor would he himself lift up his hand against Saul because he said he's the Lords anointed.
But he was willing to go after Nabal.
And you know the devil can work in your heart and mind so that it sets believer against believer in some cases.
It reminds us of the well known story of how is the Battle of Trafalgar was about to begin back in 1805 between the naval forces of England and the French Navy.
That Nelson, who was the admirable, admirable Admiral of the fleet.
Saw two sailors on his flagship going at it with fists to settle a problem between themselves and how he went, and laid a hand on ye the shoulder of each one, and turned them to face the French fleet.
And, said men, the enemy is over there.
If only you and I could feel the hand of the Lord on our shoulders sometimes.
Pointing outward at Satan, who is the real enemy instead of fellow believers.
Did God deal with Naval? Indeed he did, and he will deal with those who are against us if they are in the wrong.
But let not discouragement.
Raise the flesh in my heart.
Let's go on.
This wasn't the end of things. Chapter 26.
Verse one.
The zip fights weren't finished with David. These Zephydes wanted to stay in Saul's good books.
First Samuel 26 and verse one and the Ziphites came unto Saul to give you saying, doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hakila which is before Jeshuman?
Once again, those effects are ready to betray David.
And once again we find.
That David is afraid of Saul.
And once again we find.
That God allows an incident.
That confirmed to David that the Lord was on his side. What happens?
Later on in the chapter.
Verse 6.
David answered and said to Aimeelech the hiptite, and to Abishai the son of Zerowaya, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me? To Saul to the camp, And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
And you know the story how that Abhishek and David went down to Saul's camp.
And how God allowed a deep sleep to fall on that whole camp.
And how Abishai and David and you can just imagine tiptoeing in.
There's Saul, fast asleep on the ground.
Glass of water beside him, spear stuck in the ground.
And Abishai says David, now is your chance. Get him. Let me get him.
Abishai knew how to do it. Let me thrust him just once.
00:40:01
I'll get them just in the right place. You won't even let out a cry. Nobody else will know.
That'll be the end of them. David says no, take his spear and take his crews of water.
We'll go with that.
God encouraged David by once again letting him write to Saul to be able to take away those things that were most necessary.
A cruise of water speaks of refreshment. A sphere speaks of warfare.
David took both away from Saul.
Incidentally, it's something to meditate on.
Later on in the chapter, David says on the other side of the hill, referring to the sphere that Saul had.
That one of the men come over, the young men come over and get it, but there's no reference that he ever returned the crews of water.
No, the Lord restored Saul's spear to him to give him another chance, as it were, to say, Saul, Are you ready to give in now and quit chasing David? You can have your spear back.
But he never got the crews of water back. Saul never got that which refreshed his soul back again.
Morally speaking, and I say to you and to me, if we deliberately and willingly and willfully depart from the Lord, if we are found fighting against the Lord, we will find in our lives, there will come a point where the Lord will take away from us any refreshment in our soul. And right to the end, Saul never again had any refreshment in his soul.
But once again, poor David.
Finds himself at a place of discouragement.
The first time he was ready to go out and by force to take that which properly was his.
And when the Lord worked in a marvelous way to prevent that, David was most thankful, and even Abigail, the wife of Nabel.
Puts it in a nice way, but in a proper way. To David. David, you won't have this on your conscience the rest of your life.
That you went out and shed innocent blood because no doubt if David had gone up against Nabel.
Nabal would have died under David's hand and a number of others, but there would have been those who were just caught in the middle, so to speak, because they worked for Nabel, who would have been killed in the process.
Excuse me?
But we find once more that David becomes discouraged.
In spite of another evidence that the Lords Hand was with him, in spite of the fact that David.
Normally speaking, you'd say that would be unheard of.
No doubt they had the wagons all in a circle around them where Saul's camp was. People all sleeping around it, probably posted sentries must have all gone to sleep, Saul right in the middle, Abner there, and all those mighty men of Saul. And yet David and Abershire are able not only to sneak in there, but the hell the conversation among themselves, probably in whispered tones, as to whether it was the right thing for Abishai to kill Saul or not, and so on.
Unbelievable if the Lord hadn't allowed it.
But David got discouraged. And what did we find?
What do we find?
Chapter 27, verse one.
And David said in his heart.
I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.
There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines.
And saw the despair of Maine to seek me anymore in any coast of Israel.
So shall I escape out of his hand?
Verse four. And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, and he sought no more.
Again for him.
Could we spend a few minutes on this in closing?
David's first reaction to discouragement was to go out and take what he felt was due to him by force.
00:45:01
And when the Lord in his wonderful ways prevented that.
Once again, discouragement came in.
And this time, David did something else, and it's the other result of discouragement.
And that was to defect.
That was to go over to the Philistines.
Oh, how sad. What a low point. We say it with all kindness because our hearts are the same.
What a sad place for David to be in.
Defecting to the Philistines, the very company.
From whom Goliath had come, the very company against whom David had wrought such wonderful victories in the past. Now he says, all right.
My own people don't appreciate me. I'll go to where they do.
I'll go somewhere where Saul won't come after me.
How many times have I heard that I want some peace and quiet?
I want to go somewhere where I'm appreciated.
Did he get it up to a point?
He certainly escaped out of Sauls hand and the scripture records that Saul didn't come after him anymore. Saul couldn't in that sense go and get him in the land of the Philistines. So that Saul for that at that point at least was out of the picture.
And without going into the detail, we find that the king of the Philistines, a man by the name of Akish, he is only too ready to have David.
Is only too ready to honor him. Keeps him in the royal city. Number problem there getting food for his man or a place to live.
And when David puts it to him and says, why should I stay here in the Royal City with you, Why don't you just give us a place kind of somewhere that we can call home and we'll be on our own?
And so he gives them the city of Ziklag, and David goes there, and they can dwell in safety and in peace.
And they have no problem with food. Why? Oh, because David secretly made raids on other people, on the Gesherites and the Amalekites and the enemies of Israel. And when he went out there, he took good care that he killed everybody. Not a soul was left alive so that there's no way that word would get back to Akash.
As to where David had been and when Akash asked him where he'd been, he lied.
And said, we made raids against Judah, we went into Israel and raided there. And Akash was so persuaded that he said all this man's.
This man's mind, now I've got him. This man that did so much damage to us, he's on our side. He's going to be my servant now. And he so turned against his own people that he even goes and makes raids against them and plunders his own people.
You know, when we do anything wrong, it always brings a compounding of the situation.
We seldom do a wrong thing in isolation. It always leads to other wrong things. Going down to the Philistines meant that he had to start telling lies and one thing led to another.
And the real low point comes down in verse 29.
When we find.
Verse one Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to affect.
And the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel, and the Lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands.
But David and his men passed on in their rearward with Akash.
What's going to happen now?
Moodier.
Philistines going to battle against Israel.
And David?
Ready, evidently and willing to go with.
David ready to take sides with the Philistines against the people of God.
As it happened before.
You know full well that it has. You know full well that there have been those, may I be very honest, who have sat in seats like this, who have been to Bible conferences, who have stood up for the truth of God, who have ministered the truth of God, who have been faithful to the Lord, and yet who, because of discouragement, have eventually gone to the point where they are now only too ready. And we say it, we trust with all humility. Because my heart could go the same way if the Lord didn't keep me.
00:50:02
But they are only too willing to go on the attack with the people of God and to make fun of the truth of God.
And to say, as it were, I am accepted here. I am given a place that I ought to have. I am some place where I can have peace and quiet and where I am appreciated.
David was willing to go to Bath.
Oh, Can you imagine what that would have meant? Once again the Lord intervened. The Lords of the Philistines said no way this man will change his heart at the last minute.
No way.
Because if I read the scripture right, it seems that this battle into which David was prepared to go was the very battle in which Saul and Jonathan and many others of the Israelites died. Can you imagine what it would have been like for David to be petted there in the armies of the Philistines facing off?
With his friend Jonathan OH.
Yet that's what it would have meant.
The Lord prevented it.
But there's something very beautiful here that I'd like to draw to your attention.
Verse eight of chapter 29.
And David said unto Akish, What have but what have I done, and what hast thou found in thy servants, so long as I have been with thee under this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my Lord the King?
My Lord, the King, O David, had gotten to such a point.
That although he was anointed King of Israel, he is ready to acknowledge a Philistine as my Lord.
The King.
But what happens?
Verse 10. Akish speaking.
Wherefore now rise up early in the morning, with thy master's servants that are come with thee.
Thy master's servants.
And as soon as you be up early in the morning, have light and have light.
Depart.
Oh how beautiful that is if David on his side is willing to say My Lord the King to a Philistine.
God uses the mouth of that very Philistine to say to David.
Thy master's servants.
Oh, sometimes the Lord can use the mouth of those who have no love for the Lord or for the truth of God.
To remind us of whose we are and where we belong.
And David did get restored.
We don't have time to go into it, but I believe David was restored in the next chapter.
Because, as we referred to earlier, in the intervening time that David had gone up prepared to go to war, God allowed those Amalekites which would speak of the flesh.
More than the flesh. The flesh in its most hateful form, perhaps energized by Satan to come up.
To burn the city of Ziklag, to take all those women captives as if to say, David, you don't belong here, you don't belong here. And if you're not going to behave as you ought, I'm going to allow that city to be burned in order to make you realize where you belong.
And so the Lord restores David was a difficult thing.
David had to be threatened with stoning, but we find that.
The result of all that was that David encouraged himself in the Lord as God.
And once again he inquires of the Lord, and he gets guidance, He gets help.
And they say to your heart and mine, the Lord is ready to restore. Oh, it's never too late to be restored. But in these last and closing days, let us remember that all discouragement stems from expecting something from someone, even the Lord, and not getting it. And that ultimately the Lord is there, but he may take away from you and from me everything else, every human prop, in order that we may rest only on the Lord, but He is there over everything.
00:55:01
Ready to guide and direct in every circumstance. Ready to encourage when we need it. Ready to restore. And he does restore David in a wonderful way. He prevents his going up and fighting against the armies of Israel. Now the Lord took care of that. Israel was defeated.
Jonathan and Saul were killed, but David had no hand in it. And the wonderful thing is.
That that very victory.
Was right around the corner. It paved the way for David to take his place as the rightful king.
Oh, I say, beloved brethren, in Christ, the victory is just around the corner. The Lord is coming.
We're right at the end, we're right on the eve of the Lords return.
Let's not let discouragement spoil.
These last days.
Let's pray.
Blessed.
John 18:1-9
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
In 172.
Teach us more.
Holy.
I wonder if we could take up the 18th chapter of John.
Very nice Lemoine, did you have any special exercise about it?
Are we just saying teach us more of Thy blessed ways?
In John's Gospel, he's the Lamb of God, isn't he? And.
There's a lot of instruction in it.
I don't recall it ever being taken up.
In a reading meeting.
Conference.
18th chapter of John to read the whole chapter is your portion you have in mind.
John, Chapter 18.
Beginning at verse one.
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook of Sidron, where was a garden, into the which He entered, and his disciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place. For Jesus of times resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then.
00:05:00
Having received a band of men.
And officers from the chief priests and Pharisees cometh, thithered with lanterns, and torches, and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, when forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye, they answered, They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he.
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them as soon then as he had said unto them.
I am here they went backward and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which He speak of them which Thou gave us me have I lost none.
Then Simon Peter having the sword, drew it and smoked the high priests servant, and cut off his right ear. The servants name was Malgus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my father has given me, shall I not drink it? And then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus.
And bound it.
And led him away to Anna's first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter follow Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest.
And went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple which was known unto the high priest, and speak unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples?
He saith, I am not. And the servants and the officers stood there who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I speak openly to the world I ever taught in the synagogue.
And in the temple whether the Jews always resort? And in secret have I said nothing? Why askest thou me? Ask them which hurt me what I have said unto them? Behold, they know what I said. And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answer us, thou the high Priest soul.
Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well wise, mightest thou me? Now Anna's had sent him bound, and to Caiaphas the High priest, and Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said, therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not one of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman.
Whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again. And immediately the cock crew then let they Jesus from Caiaphas into the Hall of Judgment. And it was early. And they themselves went not into the Judgment Hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.
Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have deliver him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto them, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.
00:10:18
That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, I am a Jew.
Nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, at the end, would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews? But now is my Kingdom not from hands? Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king? Then Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I, I am a king.
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness. And to the truth everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilot said unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them, I find in him no fault at all. But you have a custom that I should release unto you one, one at the Passover.
Will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
John's Gospel.
God presents Himself to man in the person of the Son.
And so from the very beginning of the gospel, it is the Son who speaks and who is one with the Father. And so he says multiple times over in the gospel, I and my Father are one.
And.
He is the word.
That's the means by whereby we communicate. A very important way of communication is by words. And here we have the person who is the word of God who presents himself to us as such. But we also know in John's Gospel he's presented to us as the Lamb of God. And in fact.
From I think it's chapter 12 where it speaks of him going up to the feast 6 days before the feast all half of the gospel is taken up with the last week of his life.
And it's really taken up in the sense that you have it in Leviticus or in Exodus, where in the Passover lamb was selected to be the lamb. It was kept from the 10th to the 14th day to see whether it was a lamb truly without spot and without blemish. And so in John's Gospel, we have the Lord Jesus presented to us as the Lamb of God, and as it were, he's presented from the 10th to the 14th day to our gaze.
Is He truly a suitable Lamb of God? And He is perfectly expressed to our hearts as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, knowing He's going to leave them from chapter 13 to 17, just before where we started this afternoon, He knows He's going to be separated now from His disciples, and so He prepares them for that separation.
00:15:00
Because he himself, a Son of God, knows perfectly the day and the hour.
When he must present himself to God as the Lamb of God.
The 18th chapter where we start as the character of the testing of those who had read him before them for 3 1/2 years.
In our lives, even this afternoon and in our past lives, we have each been exposed to the Word of God. We have each had opportunity to listen to it, to accept it, to live it out in our lives.
And God often presents the Word to us.
Makes it there for us and then comes the testing. How did we receive it?
Young people in this room have heard the word, like some of us that are older, and there comes a point in your life where you're put to the test. Do you receive it in reality and live in it? Do you walk in it or was it just words? Was it just the way you were raised or brought up or something like that? Was it real?
Or not real. And so in the 18th chapter people are put to the test as to the reality of their relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Pilot doesn't pass the test. The Jews don't pass the test. Peter, a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, has to learn something about his own weakness as a follower. Real as he is. Judas doesn't pass the test. He's found to be false and but he's exposed through the circumstances in which the Lord Jesus is. And so likewise in our lives, God puts us in circumstances.
That will expose the reality or otherwise of what we are professing.
He's also presented as the burnt offering, the offering that was voluntary. It is the Lord Jesus himself going down, going forth and laying down his life. It wasn't taken from him. And so this first verse, this first sentence here connects with the the previous chapter where he prays for us.
His people and ask that we be with him in glory, with him when he goes there. And in order for that to take place, he must go to the cross. And so here that the Lord Jesus is that that perfect one who is not because it had to be done, but because he wanted to do it. That is, he loved the Father, He loved his people, and so he goes forth.
I.
I used to think and it may still be right, but when the Lord Jesus they asked who he was there in the.
6th verse and they asked who he was. He says I am and they fall back to their ground, fall back to the ground that maybe that was a bit of his, his deity that shown that may be true, but on the other hand it may just have been the surprise.
That there was a man before them that had a purpose and was willingly going to do that purpose and when they knew they were there to get him and he did not in any way attempt to hide himself and blatantly sit here I am, I am that that man does not understand that.
The Lord Jesus doing that, but that's his dedication. That's his willingness to go.
This path that He and the Father had worked out to redeem us and to glorify God.
Could we also say that?
And we want to be very reverend as to this. But as Dawn has said, the first part of the Epistle does bring out in that sense the 10th to the 14th day of the Passover. There was every opportunity for men to observe the Lord Jesus and for every evidence to be given of who He was. But when we see Him coming to the cross.
There is a tremendous contrast, isn't there, between the way he reacts to circumstances and the way others do. As you mentioned, Don, there are the other disciples, there is Pilate, there are the Jewish leaders, there is Peters, perhaps singled out above the other, not above. But in distinction to the other disciples, the Lord Jesus provides the perfect example of one who voluntarily takes the low place.
00:20:29
In full conscious dignity of who he is, in full consciousness that he is the Son of God. And so as you mentioned, Doug, when they say whom seek ye Jesus of Nazareth, without any hesitation, he uses that title that God took as Jehovah in the Old Testament. I am when he stands before Pilate, he can without any hesitation bear a testimony before Pilate, while at the same time.
As the one who humbled himself, submit to Pilate's authority and give him the place that God had put him in. And so it really draws in relief, doesn't it? The beauty and grace of the Lord Jesus, in contradistinction to the failure of man, whatever may have been their motives and intentions behind it.
Wonderful and helpful to recognize that when He presents himself as Son of Man and Lamb of God.
You don't have the same details in this gospel that you have in the other gospels.
Because when he presents himself as a Messiah, there were necessary proofs.
That had to be seen as to the character of the one that so presented himself. Did he or did he not fulfill the Old Testament statements concerning the Messiah? And so the Spirit of God carefully records those things in his life that give proof to who He was. It starts out by tracing the fact that he was, could be his lineage, could be passed through from Abraham to himself, through the royal line of the kings, and so on.
When he's presented to us in Mark's gospel as a servant, there is certain aspects of his character that have to be tested as to whether or not he's a suitable servant. When you get to Luke's gospel, where he's presented to us as the perfect Son of man, the perfect man, his ancestry, if you will, as man has traced all the way back to Adam. And if he's a man, he's tested as a man.
In the taken by the Spirit of God himself to be taken into the wilderness to be tested as to his manhood, is he sinless or is he not? And he perfectly passes those tests where we know who he is. But you don't have and it's beautiful that you don't. You don't have all those details in John because the Son of God.
Rather than there's no proof of that that man could ever see or know.
As far as setting up some test of lineage, it's God the Son come among us and we are to receive Him as such. We're not to put, if you will, if I can put it this way, him to the test or He doesn't need to be put to the test by God.
In order to see that he's the Lamb of God in the 10th of 14th day, that was to the assurance of those who were going to trust him as lamb for themselves. And so he's presented to us in a way that our hearts would say that's my lamb. God's lamb is my lamb. I accept him.
But when it comes to the truth of his deity, there is no.
Testing in the wilderness, there's no temptations of Satan in that sense in the Gospel when he's going to present himself as the burnt offering character to God. You don't have the sufferings on the cross that recorded that you have before us in the other gospels.
It's really a higher character. It was a sweet savor to the heart of God. It is the fullest expression of all the gospels really, far greater to the heart when it's entered into than the martyr sufferings through which he went that are carefully recorded in the other gospels because.
00:25:00
It's to bring us into fellowship with the Father.
In the pleasure of his own heart, as expressed in the sun.
Offering Himself willingly to the Father. And so it gives before us those things that would draw in our souls, or out of put in our souls, that sense of common appreciation and enjoyment with the Father, of what he saw when both of them went together to the cross, and where the sun voluntarily presents Himself to God as His Lamb.
That same thought.
And we don't need to spend a lot of time on it, but it's significant that the Brooke Kedron is brought into the picture here.
We know from the geography of the area that the Kedron Valley ran from north to South on the east side of Jerusalem. And then if you went up the other side from that eastern bank, you ended up in the Mount of Olives and in the Garden of Gethsemane. And that Brooke Kedron ran down toward the valley of Hinnom at the South side of Jerusalem there.
And we find it mentioned a number of times in Scripture, which I commend to each one here for your meditation. We find, for example, that when David was rejected running away from Absalom, that it specifically mentions his crossing of the brook Kedron. We find that when ASA took the idol that his mother, or perhaps his grandmother had made and grounded up.
He threw it into the brook, Kedron. And so there are other instances that I believe remind us of the passing over that Brooke Kedron and what it represented as being the pathway of total rejection.
It was the pathway of putting oneself right outside of the pale of Jerusalem, right outside of that which you might say was God's center. It was being cast out of that very place where God had in the Old Testament sent, set his name. So the rightful king and the person of David had to go away temporarily while Absalom took his place. And we find the Lord Jesus taking that the very same path.
And as Don has mentioned, he presented himself not merely as the Messiah that was true, but as the Son of God. And so in John he's rejected right from the very beginning, rejected not only his Messiah, but rejected as the Son of God who came to do the Father's will.
That rejection takes on significance in the fact that God's love is not thwarted in giving his son. In spite of that rejection, God doesn't turn around and retrieve his son and bring him back and say, OK, you won't have him, I'll bring him back. No, he sends him all the way to the cross. And so it's the love that shows out, and God's love shows out in spite of man's rejection.
The Lord Jesus goes forth, He goes to the cross, He grows, goes over this brook.
And it's with purpose. It's the purpose of showing the love of God to us.
While Judas is tested and it's a solemn statement about him, that verse two begins. Judas also which betrayed him knew the place. What words knew the place?
Judas knew right where he would be found. He knew where he was. He sold him to those who wanted him by saying, as it were, I know where you can find him. And so I'll lead you to him.
And so it records, Judas knew the place.
What a solemn word for anyone who enters eternity having known the place where the Lord Jesus could be found. And I I'm going to say, I dare say that there's probably no one in this room that doesn't know where to find the Lord Jesus.
00:30:18
There's no one that's going to stand before God someday and say I didn't know where the place where the Lord Jesus could be found.
You have the word of God in your hands, and you have.
Experienced mist of us at least have experienced being together with the Lord Jesus where he's.
Can be found in our weekly lives too, in another sense of the place.
But here Judas knew that the Lord often went to that place, to that garden.
To pray, To express.
Speaking to the Father.
And so he could take them there, but his heart wasn't right. His heart wasn't right. And and his heart gets exposed.
In it to the eternal loss of his soul. As the Lord had said, it would have been better for Judas if he'd never been born.
What a sad commentary about a life that knew where the Lord Jesus could be found.
And yet, in the end, it has to be said it would have been better for him if he'd never been born.
Well, it is a very sad thing concerning Judas and our brother Clifford Brown, our late brother Clifford Brown, and maybe some here will remember his saying this. He used to remark he said there had to be a Judas. That is, there were prophecies that concerned him that had to be fulfilled. But he put it this way. He said Judas did not have to be Judas.
He did not have to take that place. He didn't have to fill that role. And so there was responsibility there. And what a solemn thing has done, as remarked, for a man who knew the place, who had accompanied with the Lord all his life, to be found at the end betraying him for money. And sad to say, this has happened many times in this world's history, not only among those who are connected with the Lord Jesus, but in many other fields. But the solemn thing about Judas is, I believe, and we don't need to dwell too long on it, but simply to recognize.
That it shows how far one could go who had lived and company with the Lord Jesus.
And how far one could go, perhaps. And I have no doubt that Judas worked miracles along with the others when the Lord sent them out two by two to go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, and when they were told to heal the sick and raise the dead and cleanse the lepers and so on, casting out demons. I have no doubt that Judas did all that in the name of the Lord Jesus and was successful. And it shows us how far one could go in pretending and yet not be real to the point where when it came down to the crunch, as we would say.
And the Lord was about to expose Judas for what he really was, that none of the other disciples had any idea that he was the one. And so it's a very solemn warning, as Dawn says, to any who have been brought up in Christian homes and who have perhaps known how to, as we would say, speak the language and how to pass themselves as believers, and yet are not real inside.
And for the Spirit of God in the Word to say.
It had been good for that man if he had not been born, is one of the most solemn statements in the entire Word. There are many times in connection with someone where, when the question is raised as to their salvation, we simply have to say, Well, we don't know. The Lord knoweth them that are his. But there is at least one man in the person of Judas where no doubt is left in our minds. No, no, no statement could ever be made.
About anyone who was a true believer. Good word for that man, if he had not been born. And you know there is at least one who is in a lost eternity to day, having had the opportunity that very few others had of living and companying with the Lord Jesus. Of being amongst the ones who heard the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth, Of seeing every evidence of divine power and of seeing who he was.
00:35:20
And yet turned his back on him.
Very, very solemn warning, isn't it?
Well, there's company to take Judas to the Lord Jesus, and it's to me.
Amazing in one sense, the way the Spirit of God records for us in verse three. They come hit her with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Did you bring a flashlight to go out into the midday sun so you could see it?
Here was a group of people that were going to come into the presence of one who was the light of the world. He could say I am the light of the world.
Far beyond the noonday sun light of the world. Do you take a flashlight?
To go find the light of the world.
The same person is presented in this gospel, is in him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Well, as the light and the light.
Do you bring a weapon of death?
So that you can go see the one who gave you life.
That's man.
That's the darkness of man. It says he came as that light, and the darkness comprehended it not. It was night time in their souls, and being in the presence of light it was still night time in their souls. The darkness comprehends it not. And so it is with man. In his unbelief he comes to the light, or that he's exposed to the light.
He's exposed to the life giver and all he has for himself is is Lantern and his weapons, his torch. Sad isn't it? And yet how wonderful for us that we who have put our trust in the Lord Jesus.
Find glorious light and life for our souls in that same person that these ones come out with their poor little provisions to be in His presence.
Perhaps as other contrasts like that.
It's a light which is a man made light and the light of the glory of God.
But the Lord also asks, whom seek ye?
And he was the one that had come to see and to say they came to seek him to destroy.
They came to a garden that was well known.
That the Lord Jesus, he was one who had.
Realize in the Old Testament that he had a garden that he tended and he was going to bring fruit out of it someday.
There was the weapons, of course.
And what good were they in comparison to the very word of the Lord Jesus Christ? And he simply says, I am. They fall back.
They took him to a high priest.
They were on the way to a high priest, but who was truly the high priest?
Christ himself.
Came to bring blessing.
This high priest is going to sit in an unfair judgment on the Holy One.
And the Christ nurtures his people as the high Priest.
Perhaps there's other contrasts as well, but it seems pretty dramatic.
Go back to the notice a couple of verses in the 12Th chapter concerning Gethsemane not being mentioned here. We don't have Gethsemane ever mentioned in John's Gospel except briefly alluded to in the verses I'm going to read.
00:40:19
In the 12Th chapter of John's Gospel it says in verse.
25 Now is my soul troubled? And what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour, but for this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Now you get the answer.
Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify.
It again.
This is all you get alluded to in this Gospel as to what might have been what the Lord went through in Gethsemane, because here He and the Father jointly in unison are together in this mission of showing the world who the Father is through the Son.
And so part of that is the Lord Jesus to go to the cross.
And as we mentioned earlier afterward, not to go back to heaven alone, except the corner of the fall on the ground, it biteth alone. The Lord Jesus didn't want to go back to heaven alone for that purpose, it was necessary to fall into the ground and die. And so that is all that is alluded to here in this.
Gospel, I believe as to Gethsemane, but it's so beautiful how the answer the Lord Jesus, as it were, resolves in his own soul, in the presence of the Father, the answer to whether he should go forward or not is expressed, Father, glorify thy name.
And so Jesus going to the cross is the expression of glorifying the Father and obedience unto death, a perfect voluntary sacrifice.
This is the Father's heart being showed out to all of us, and that's all we have of Gethsemane because it's the Father and the Son together. And so I believe this is so beautiful, why Gethsemane is not mentioned.
And the allusion to it is really just God expressing his love.
Through the sun.
Like to add a little comment too on that 12Th verses that we've just read and that is that.
As Doug has said, God glorifies himself in the cross.
Which results in the Lord Jesus at the end of the.
End of it in death.
But that's not the end of the glory in which God glorifies himself. He also, in a very important way, glorifies himself in the resurrection.
And so the sun could go into death to glorify God at the cross. Also well knowing what was the other side of it. In answer from the Father in resurrection. It's been commented on those verses after the glory I have glorified it.
The voice from heaven says I have both glorified it and it's suggesting that that is the resurrection of Lazarus and I will glorify it again.
Which is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus after he glorifies the Father in the work of the cross.
So it's it's good for us to see that can I say the Longview of it and that is God's purposes in it and the Father and the son doing the work. The son doing the work to the Father's glory can look on to its the future aspects of it. Not only that which is the most crowning jewel of it, which is the the work on the cross.
Earlier, it was said that Judas knew the place.
There were certain things that Jesus also knew.
If we turn back in the Gospel of John chapter 13.
00:45:03
We read verse one of John 13.
It says now before the feast of Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world and to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end. So He knew that knew that His hour was coming. Verse three of that chapter, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things unto his hands, that He was come from God and went to God. And then in our chapter in 18 we have verse 4.
Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
This is the beautiful verse out of the beginning of chapter 18 here.
And other places that is like the fulfillment of a part of Isaiah 53. Jesus could not take his own interpretation of Isaiah 53. He knew full well that it would be fall upon him. And so we hear we say he saying that he knowingly Jesus therefore knowingly all things that should.
Come upon him. That's like reading Psalms 22 and the billows that were going to roll upon him.
And so also when if you follow back later in John in chapter 19 and look at verse 28 after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that scriptures might be fulfilled, said I thirst. So he knew full well those things, didn't He, and what we was reading back there when it was read to us in the 12Th chapter and he.
Said Father, glorify thy name.
You are looking directly into the heart of Jesus and you can see what?
Is on Jesus heart and he knowingly knew that his hour was come.
And he knowingly knew why he was going to Calvary and what he was to accomplish. It is nice that it Father answered him. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. There's a couple interpretations on the first one on glorifying it. Some of the Lazarus resurrection, because it's similar to the resurrection later on glorified again. Others say that sometimes it's the name given to him above all other names that He'd glorified him in. The name would be that what it may, it is the resurrection and he would glorify it again.
He will raise him up, and that is the beauty of the passage that Jesus here.
Submitted himself without any resistance. This is what we have to look at because immediately in verse 10 that Simon Peter having his sword drew it and smote the high priest servants ear and cut off his right high priest servant and cut off his right ear, we see the resistance of man immediately there was absolutely no resistance by Jesus. It was complete submission to fill the Father's will and to go to Calvary, which he knew full well what he was doing.
Well, it's beautiful to see, isn't it? In John's Gospel, as you brought out, Brother Bill, the superiority of the Lord Jesus to every circumstance, man might be the instrument that God allowed to take him and to put him to death. And in that sense, they were charged with that crime later on by the apostles. They were charged with the sin of murdering the Lord Jesus, and rightfully so.
But all through the gospel we see one who as Son of God, is superior to all His circumstances, knowing everything that was coming upon him, realizing that it was the will of the Father that He was doing, not submitting in that sense to man as man, but submitting to what the Father was allowing through man in order to accomplish the Father's will. Well, that's something marvelous that really speaks to our hearts and to our souls.
To see that there was One who was Lord of all, One who came into this world and at the at the time he was in this world, was indeed upholding all things by the word of His power. One in whom, as Paul says in Colossians dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And yet he voluntarily takes a position of total submission to the Father's will, whatever it might be.
00:50:05
Well, it's wonderful to see that and to see the way that the Lord Jesus submits totally to all that, and yet in the conscious dignity of who he is, submits in that character. He doesn't hesitate, for example, later on in the chapter, to remind Pilate of where his authority came from. He doesn't hesitate to speak in a right way to the chief priests when he's wrongfully smitten.
Reminding them that they were smiting and contrary to the law. And many other occasions where in the conscious dignity of who He was, He speaks according to that dignity, but coupled with that the perfect submission to whatever the Father's will was.
Submit to it and to accomplish it by that submission.
It's a wonderful thing because as we go from here to the cross, He is in control and He does submit to man, but He submits to man as fulfilling the will of God and to accomplish certain things that had been.
Prophesied concerning himself, concerning the work, and so really in the gospel, instead of man having him under his control.
He's the Son of God and what men are doing are being tested by him like Pilate, like the Jews and Pilate might have said, I have Jesus Christ in my courtroom, but in reality, Pilot was in God's courtroom through the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the truth of the situation as presented in John's gospel. And so when it's a matter of going out.
To be consistent with that way of seeing it to our hearts He bears his own cross.
It's not somebody coming out of the country to help them tarry the cross, because that was a part of the work that was necessary to fulfill the Father's will when it comes to the matter of his actual death.
After he could look at everything and see it all and say it is finished, what does he do?
He does the thing that only he could do.
He dismisses his own life. They did not have the power in reality to take the life giver's life.
I, the Son of Man, the Lamb is the source of life. He had life in himself even in manhood because of who he was. And so when it comes to the ultimate, if we would say it, the ultimate step in that path of submission.
As as the Lamb, he had to die, so how does it happen? He bowed his head and dismisses his spirit. He was in control to the last moment, the last breath to leave His body of light was by his own act, a necessary act in that case. And so it is.
Beautiful to see each of these details reinforces.
To the soul who he is and who is, can I say?
Fulfilling in what he's doing. Both of them, it says in Genesis 22 went together.
We see the Father and the Son in these verses, going together, you might say, right through the crowd.
That makes him and fulfilling along the way those interactions with them, but always purposefully going toward the end result, which is the cross.
Not to take away from the thought you had, Doug, but I just asked the question.
Is the using of the title. I am part of that same.
Shall we say testimony to his being in control of the whole situation?
They might come with their torches and their weapons, they might use the instruments of human violence in order to take them. But is it right to say that in that act He reminds them that He is the one that is in control, and they can do nothing except that the power is given them from God?
00:55:03
That's the same as Jehovah in the Old Testament. Jehovah is the I am right, and he was that.
He doesn't waver from it in such an hour.
Is the beginning of the verse five when he's asked, When they're asked, well, who are you looking for? Who do you see?
Will they give their answer? Who were they seeking? Jesus of Nazareth. That's all they blew. That's all they were looking for. They were looking for that man that came from that part of the country called Nazareth, whose name was Jesus, because they had the responsibility of taking him to the chief priests.
So that he could be judged his answer to them.
Is yes, I'm Jesus of Nazareth? No. Was he? Yes, he was. Did he acknowledge it? Yes, he did. But he goes far beyond it. And he says I am. That's the one. If you're going to seek Jesus of Nazareth, the one you're going to have to face.
Is the I am the one that you are responsible to then whatever judging is before your eyes, it's not going to be Jesus of Nazareth only, but you are going to be before the I am the Jehovah, and that's going to make them and does make them exceedingly responsible as to how they deal with I am.
We might say, well, I'd like to know more about Jesus. I've heard, you know, he lived a long time ago. He was a Goodman. He was this and that.
Is that what we see it says, Whom seek ye? No, not really.
We seek the I am.
As presented to us in all that He is as Lamb of God, Son of God, Jesus Christ, and all of the various ways in which he's presented to us, and we want to know Him in all of them. But we seek far more than Jesus of Nazareth.
This, this effort of Judas and the scribes and the soldiers and so on, were an attempt to get the Lord Jesus in the absence of the people, because they had an agenda they wanted to accomplish against the Lord Jesus in the absence of the people. And in order to do that they they had to pull a secret mission here and catch him and do away with him. They were afraid the people of Israel would rise up.
And protest if they did it in public. And so that's the scenario that's going on here.
And in the middle of this then when they come to him and then he can say I am.
That is, it's you can't, you can't find an opportunity moment and catch him and do away with him. He's the ever existing one.
You really can't face them on your own terms.
So having said to them I am, they fall backwards and to the ground in the face of such a statement.
And then he asks him again, verse seven, Whom seek ye?
They go back to the original statement, Jesus of Nazareth. He goes back to the ground on which they must face him.
In verse eight, I have told you that I am.
Notice that he is italics. It's the I am is that expression of the Old Testament.
He is the great I am, and so if you seek me, let these go their way. In other words, there's an insistence that they must have to do with Him. Not on their terms. They wanted just Jesus of Nazareth, but they're going to have to deal with the matter on the true ground. And so does Pilot when he faces him later in the chapter, and the high priests and so on. Every one of them is forced into the situation.
Where they have to deal with him on proper terms, if you will. And so man, when the gospel is presented to him, he might want to hear about him as a good man, but that isn't going to be the ultimate issue. He must face him as Savior, his Savior, or ultimately face him as his judge. But he can't escape.
01:00:28
The fact that he's going to face him on his God's terms, on the terms of the Lord Jesus.
As much as he may wish to, people may laugh and scoff at the Lord Jesus today, but they will ultimately have to face Him on God's terms.
And part of those terms and were that he was going to be the lamb that laid down his life and the rest could be set free. And so that's why he says let these go their way. It was only needful for one to die. And later it says that Caifa said prophesied that probably not in good intent, but in a malicious way.
So the God takes that man up on that way and says, OK, I will provide that one to die for the nation and my son. And so those are God's terms that are insisted on here.
The end of verse five you have.
Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
So he felt the effects of that falling to the ground didn't.
Later.
In the chapter we get.
The same phrase.
In a verse 18.
But it's about Peter.
Peter stood with them.
What is our company?
Who do we keep company with?
It's important, isn't it very important, But.
There's two different.
Eternities in these two different souls.
Isn't it Lemoyne that here, the one in the person of Judas, who had wielded, as it were, that power in the name of the Lord in the past, now finds himself having that power used against him? And what a solemn thing it is for the heart of man.
Someone else has remarked that here were these men come in the night with lanterns and torches and weapons, everything they needed, as it were, to arrest and take somebody away, and there they were, thrown backward on the ground.
And yet, what is the heart of man? Do you would think, humanly speaking, that they would get up and say, if I could use modern language, let's get out of here?
But no, they get up and maybe dust themselves off.
And then start all over again as if nothing had happened. And so it shows us really how far the heart of man can go, right in the face of God's power of effrontery and rebellion against God. And the solemn thing is, as you say, that Judas is there with them.
For a long time he accompanied with the Lord Jesus. He was identified as one of his disciples.
And if anyone had spoken about Judas, they would have identified him with the name of the Lord Jesus and as one of those accompanied with him. But now he's on the other side, about to take part in one of the worst acts that's ever taken place in man's history.
Sometimes when we try to present the Lord Jesus to others.
They may disagree with us and start to argue.
Peter is a little by application here, a little word to us.
Don't take out the sword and cut their ear off.
01:05:04
Even using the Word of God to do it, we know that the Word of God is powerful and it is the sword of the spirit, but it can also be misused if our hearts are wrong and I'll put that person right, I'll show what's true and in a sense.
To put it another way here.
They came with their weapons. The Lord Jesus presented himself to them as he was.
There was power in that presentation of himself as the I am, and they fall backwards as a result of it. And then Peter thinks in his mind, I've got to defend the Lord here, and he whips out the sword and starts to use it. We don't have to defend the Lord.
We represent the Lord, but He doesn't need our defense. What a soul needs is to be brought into the presence of the One who is the power.
And not us saying I'll show who's right, I'll convince them that the word of God is true, and so on.
The Lord, in order to give somebody a hearing here after Peter was done, had to restore the year. And sometimes it happens after we're done with somebody, spiritually speaking, the Lord has to step in afterwards and give them their ears back so that they are in a place to be able to listen to Him. So there's something for us in this, and fear is true hearted in it. There's no lack of zeal, there's no lack of desire here. But he didn't understand.
Lord has to say that to him. Peter, you don't, you don't get it right now. Did I, should I not do what my father has told me to do? Are you going to try to hinder me, Peter, from accomplishing what the my father has given me to do? Shall I not drink that coffee? And so he's gentle with Peter and protective. He doesn't allow Peter to be taken at this point by them.
That none would be lost. And Peter's the Lord always was going to see that. Peter gets through the lesson without being lost himself. So Lord says, I prayed for you, not that you won't fail in what you're going to do, but that your faith fail not. He sustains that faith which was his living link with the Lord.
In regard to the comment Brother Le Moyne made about who are we associating with and who are we spending time with, I hope this is a right comparison. But in the Song of Solomon.
Chapter One.
Think this is a good question for us?
Verse 7.
Tell me, O thou whom my soul love it.
Where do thou feed him?
Where does it all feed us?
We're a weed feeding.
We're our little ones feeding.
We want to be on the right side and we want to be on God's side because that is the right side.
We might just say in one last comment to that that.
I believe with dear Judas, ultimately, and the scripture identifies it as such, it was his covetousness, his love of money, that got him into trouble.
Judas no doubt didn't expect the Lord to be taken. He thought he could use the opportunity to make some money.
And very often there is a besetting sin can be in our own hearts. It's in the hearts of men of the world too.
Where that besetting sin eventually leads them into difficulties where they didn't really.
At the beginning, intend to go, and no doubt Judas never intended that everything should develop this way, but in seeking to get the money that he wanted, one thing led to another and eventually was his total downfall.
187.
01:10:03
#27.
Gospel
Gospel—Dan Brown
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good evening. This is the Gospel meeting. As it's just been announced that means.
We have good news for you tonight.
Let's begin our meeting.
With this little hem sheet singing #38.
#38.
I know not why God.
'S life.
Is for everything we need for our lives of all. But I want to know why. I want to be able to hear you in the dream that you're in the life of you and I can't hear you and I can't do it. I can't do anything right now. I can't do anything.
I am alone. I have a mistake.
There will be really far.
Into my life.
19 yesterday.
When I come here.
Entrepreneurship.
Before I get into the message this evening, I'd like to just say how this little hymn convicted me.
Just yesterday morning.
Seems like a lot has happened since then, but.
In our family, we're able to normally have a reading each morning, and yesterday morning as we're reading, it's our habit to sing a hymn and this was the one we were seeing.
In the middle of the hem the phone rang and my wife looked at the caller ID and said.
Better answer this. We don't normally interrupt things for that, but we did.
And I was given the phone and I heard a brother that I respect very much say Dan.
Well, after introducing himself, he said Dan.
We'd like to for you to speak at the Gospel meeting Saturday night.
Oh, I don't know how many of you have had that request. Some of you are are gifted at this and have done this several times.
But I've been just singing I know whom I believe and I enjoyed that hymn and I was enjoying the song and now what would I say? I know who I believe, but I would really rather not talk about him.
00:05:04
Have any of you ever been convicted that way? Probably not quite that definite, but felt a conviction to talk about the one you believe in. Most of you do here.
What are you going to say to that conviction?
Well, I, as you can see, I said yes. I won't tell you how much hesitation went into that, and not because of any doubt of the message. And I, most of us here wouldn't doubt the message at all, that we just doubt our ability to get it across.
But is that faith too?
Well, we'll leave that in his hands tonight, and I'd just like to simply ask a few questions tonight.
Leading up to that first question.
The apostle Paul who wrote these words, you can see in your hymn sheet that it's in quotations. It's quoted from what the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy.
Near the end of his life, he still had confidence, full confidence in the one he believed in.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
But what do you believe about him? And before I get to that question, I'd like to ask.
Just two or three other questions first.
The first question is, what do you believe about this book?
Some of you that are younger may hear different things about this book called the Bible.
Your As you get older, you might hear that it's pretty good literature.
You might read that or hear that it has good moral values, but what do you believe about it?
It's a book that we know was some of it was written over 3500 years ago, and even the most recent part of it is more than 1900 years old. Is it still relevant to you? What is it do you believe?
Well, let me read.
Of what one man said who wrote part of it, A man we were talking about today. Let's if you want to turn to it, it's in second Peter.
Peter was one we were talking about today if you were here at the meetings this afternoon.
He was one that, as we said this afternoon, he had his doubts.
But he was, well, I shouldn't maybe shouldn't say doubts. He had his failures.
As each one of us does. But he was fully persuaded and in the first chapter of his second epistle.
He said in verse 16.
We have not followed cunningly devised fables.
But when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Peter, as you perhaps know from what we were talking about today, and if you don't?
He was one that walked with the Lord Jesus when he was here on this earth for the full time of the Lord Jesus ministry on the earth more than 3 1/2 years and he recognized in Jesus.
He made the statement that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, that he knew that, and here he says to those.
To whom he wrote this epistle, he says.
That he saw these things and most of these books that are written, I should say most of the things that are written in this book. And we call each individual part of it a book sometimes, don't we? Often by the writers name, they're written by people who had maybe not eyewitness, but a direct relationship with God and several of them a direct relationship with this man Christ Jesus that we're here to talk about tonight.
They saw these things and they were so convinced of them.
The ones that walked with him, that all were willing and most did go into death. Perhaps not John.
I all died obviously, but were willing to be martyred for the name.
That they preached the Lord, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:10:03
That's the foundation of this book. Do you believe that?
What do you believe about it?
I ask you, you don't have to answer me, but I want you please answer your conscience, what you really believe about it, what you really think about this book. And then if you say I believe it, then there's some things in it.
That should follow that you would accept, but they can be twisted. Let's just go through just a few more questions.
About what this book says about you and each one in this earth.
I'm going to stick mostly with two men.
One who saw and walked with Jesus.
That would be John, and we mentioned him a lot today and another who was, he says, born out of due time. That would be Paul and they wrote much in this book.
Their words were born out of a direct association with this one, the Lord Jesus. One who saw Him revealed in vision and heard special things from him. That would be Paul and the other John, who actually walked with him, knew the love of his Lord personally and rested in that love.
We spoke a lot about John some in our readings this afternoon.
At that trying time, that prelude to the cross.
The second question is what do you believe about sin?
This book teaches us.
That all have sinned.
We'll look at Paul's account of it, since we can stay in the center part of this book if we do that.
In the epistle that he wrote to the Romans. And we'll also look at what John wrote in his Gospel, but for now.
We could look at the beginning of this book, but because it describes how sin came in. But Paul in Romans 5 gives a summary of what happened.
Why this world is in the state it's in right now.
In the 5th chapter of Romans.
He says there are several verses we could look in at. Perhaps the 12Th 1St will do.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death.
By sin so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. And he says in the 17th verse.
If by one man's offense, death reigned by 1.
Much more, they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by 1 Jesus Christ.
He doesn't want us to linger in despair, does he? Sin is definitely in the world, or do you believe that?
There are those that would teach that man is inherently good.
It just needs a little help.
That's not what this book says.
What do you believe?
Can you?
We're somewhat sheltered in this country. There are some countries where.
Where the results of sin, at least as far as outright wickedness.
Are more apparent and reference was made.
Today, if you had lived in Germany especially.
During the Holocaust.
You would have no doubt that wickedness reigns in this earth.
But you can look at your newspaper or.
Or just listen.
With a willing mind to what's going on around you. And I don't believe you can deny that sin is into the world now.
I think most of this audience has heard about the fact that we have all sinned.
I'll reinforce that earlier. Didn't he in that same epistle?
00:15:00
The third chapter, the 23rd verse, he said all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But what do you personally believe?
Do you accept this book as the word Word of God? And so do you accept that statement about you personally that you're part of those that number of all have sinned?
A third question.
That I think maybe needs to be asked to give that relevance is.
Does it even matter?
Is that shocking or?
But does it?
For that.
Answer. Let's go to what John revealed about.
The Lord Jesus in that chapter that most of you know.
The third chapter of John's Gospel.
Why does it matter that olives? And if everybody is in the same boat, do we just continue on in sin?
There's something within you that says.
What about my eternal existence?
It's interesting, the man that asked the question that led up to the story of the Good Samaritan.
What did he ask? He asked.
What must I do that I may inherit eternal life? He had no doubts that there was such a thing. He wanted to know how to get it today.
There are those that say there is no God when you die, that's the end of you.
That's not what we've been taught. That's not what Jesus said.
What did he say in those well known verses? Let's start with the 14th verse.
John 3, verse 14.
As Moses.
Lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
And the last verse of the chapter, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
There's a lot in those verses, but what I wanted to point out just for now from those verses is.
There is such a thing, Jesus, the one that this book speaks of, says.
You can have everlasting life. He also warns of the consequence of not believing.
This message about Jesus that he came to offer this.
Everlasting life by belief in Him.
It means.
We call it a soul. That part of you, your spirit and your soul is conscious.
Of your existence. It's able to think things about you and why you're here and what your purpose is, and that part of you has meaning to the one who created you.
He desires to have your company. It's an amazing thought, but I'm jumping ahead of the story a little bit. I wanted to.
Bring before you this question. Do you believe that part of you continues on forever?
If you only believe.
That when you die, that's the end of you. It's what the atheist, the one who says there's no God, prefers, because then he's not responsible.
But if you believe that, then you have a responsibility to do something about it.
What do you believe about what's written in this book?
With those things in mind.
And I hope you believe what this book is written. I'm not going to be able to convince you in one hour, but.
00:20:07
I trust that each one in here does believe that. If not, search these things. Search this book. See how it reveals God's plan for you. But our question tonight is, what do you believe? First of all, at least, what do you believe about Jesus Christ?
And I suggest that everyone of you believes something about Jesus Christ. And I think most of you here believe.
That he died for your sins, but you believe something.
Even those around who have heard very little believe something, either that he was a good man or.
Some just believe that his name has power. They use it.
There is something different about Jesus Christ. Most people will acknowledge that.
But what do you personally believe about him? At least? First of all, I'm asking the question in that way. What do you believe about Jesus Christ?
Turn off just back a page or two again listening to what John?
Wrote about this one Jesus Christ.
I'm going on as if you.
Have accepted that fact that you need to do something about your soul.
And that, Jesus, is the answer.
The very first of John's Gospels, he begins with this message in the beginning.
Was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning.
With God.
All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
As you read through this chapter, you discover that John is talking about the one he walked with Jesus.
He believed that Jesus.
There are two things in this portion that I want.
To ask you if you believe.
The word.
In other words, that which God sent as a message, or that which God sent to reveal his plan to man or.
I'll call it a revealer.
God is invisible. Jesus came to reveal that which is invisible, or at least as much of it as we can understand.
Do you believe that about Jesus Christ that he came?
That he was God and he came to reveal God and what God had planned for you. The other part of it is.
All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made. That's a pretty sweeping statement, isn't it?
All things were made by him.
God created all through Jesus.
The other night when I was.
I farmed so there were opportunities for me to be out in the country and I can see the stars.
Maybe you don't see them that often up here with all the city lights, but.
It's an incredible display when there's no other light around.
And the number of them is immense. Something like well.
The latest guest is what, 50 million galaxies? And each one of them has 100, I'm sorry, billion galaxies and each of them has 100 billion stars?
When you talk that many zeros, does it matter?
Another number I'll throw at you that you've heard of Albert Einstein. I think probably we think of him as an intelligent man, his guests at the circumference of the universe.
Was you take a 21 and you put 22 zeros behind it.
That's how many light years it takes you to get around the universe. That's huge, isn't it?
All things, everything was made by Him, all that was made by him, and yet He came to this earth for you. Do you believe that?
Their creator.
00:25:02
Came to this earth for you.
That's what this book says. That's what people who walked with the Lord Jesus.
They were convinced of it.
That's what God, through His Spirit, revealed to these men.
That he created everything and that yet he's interested enough in you to come here.
And offer to you a plan.
He's the revealer, he's the creator. Do you believe those things?
Those things are important and they set in perspective perhaps how great this plan is. And they also.
I hope speak to you.
Of the power of God, wouldn't you want to be on his side? Why would you identify with anything that goes against that? If we read through this book, we find that there's an enemy who seeks to take away from Jesus, the Son of God.
Our goal is tonight to present to you the One Jesus Christ who desires to have you for Himself.
And he has the right to ask that. He's your creator.
The next.
Question I would like to ask you about Jesus.
I believe the book teaches that Jesus is a substitute.
Or is available as a substitute for you.
We use the word savior and that's a little more all-encompassing, but I want to narrow it down to the word substitute. It's something that.
Man has difficulty accepting and so I believe it's presented in this book.
Several times.
As a concept, so that we could begin to grasp that.
There's a substitute available for us.
Abraham was called to offer up his son.
As a type of what God would do.
But a substitute was found. A RAM was found.
Isaiah was given to write specifically about the Lord Jesus. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. He was a substitute.
Is that too simple for you? You say it can't be that easy.
I believe that's why it's reinforced in those.
In those pictures.
Because God knew that we might have doubts about salvation working in that way.
So all through this book, that idea is upheld.
Let's look back to Romans back in that same area, the 4th chapter.
We'll start in just in the middle of verse 24.
If we believe.
On him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Who was delivered for our offenses?
And raised again for our justification. I didn't mean to ignore the beginning part of this and it talks about his righteousness being imputed to us, but I wanted to focus on this one thought that He was delivered for our offenses.
That's what Paul was given.
Knew the Old Testament very well. He was. He knew all about what Isaiah wrote.
And he was given those things he had from God.
And he is saying there is available for you a substitute.
Sin brings in death.
Death is the judgment for sin.
But.
If you believe that message that Jesus gave that we read in the third chapter of John.
00:30:00
Then there is a substitute for you. You have life.
Because of that.
Can it be that easy in the way of salvation? Be that easy, Just believe.
That's what Jesus said.
Believe.
Well, there's a little more that goes with that.
I've asked so far, what do you believe about Jesus?
I'd like to change the question just slightly.
And asked you if you believe in Jesus?
You can know those things about him. You can know that he was a wonderful man that did miracles.
But do you believe in him? Do you believe those things about him? But do you believe in him?
Is he the Son of God sent from heaven?
Displaying God to you and then offering himself.
For you.
In our reading meetings today, we've been leading up to that time when Jesus.
Went to the cross willingly. A sacrifice.
A perfect substitute. I don't know if you caught that reference to the lamb.
A perfect lamb and the time of testing before it.
But Jesus was.
The perfect substitute for you. Do you believe that?
Jesus says to us that on that decision of yours, whether you believe that or not.
Hinges.
The destiny of your soul, that you have a soul that exists forever. And on that simple question of what you believe.
Hinges your destiny.
Do you know him?
When you know him.
He takes a position in your life.
It's not just.
A formula. And we can tell you what to say. We can tell you that you must confess that you're a senior.
We're already told that. Why not confess that?
You can ask Jesus to be your savior if you mean that.
Then he is your Lord.
What does that mean?
It means many things.
He's the one you answer to.
Let's go out of my comfort zone here and we'll move back to Luke.
Luke's Gospel, Chapter 6.
There's plenty for you to consider in just those first three chapters of John and those.
Chapters 3-4 and five of Romans plenty to convince the willing mind of the necessity of these things, but.
When we believe in Jesus Christ, He becomes our we use that word, our Lord and Savior, don't we? Sometimes. But does he mean that to us? If we believe He really is our Lord, that means He changes the direction of our life. Is that something you fear?
He tells us that that lordship is an easy yoke. It's a path of happiness. But let's read the verses.
Why call ye me? I'm sorry, Luke 646.
Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like, He is like a man which built it, built in house, and dig deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock.
That he that heareth and doeth not is like a man, that without a foundation, built a house upon the earth.
Against which the stream did vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. You could sing this, don't you? The wise man build his house upon the rock.
00:35:10
What's the beginning of this story? Calling Jesus Lord? That's how you build your house upon the rock.
It's a house built.
That brings satisfaction.
You here in the.
Assembly at Addison have lost a dear brother recently and Justice. Before he went home he was able to speak to his family after 91 years. I have no regrets.
He rejoiced in a life lived for the Lord, calling in the Lord.
His Lord.
It wasn't the hard path. It was a path that led to a firm house, a firm foundation.
But it's a question to us. We call Jesus Lord.
Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
That would speak to our hearts, wouldn't it?
What do you believe about Jesus as Lord of your life?
Another searching question for each one of us.
If you believe in Jesus as.
Your substitute believing that you have sinned.
And God is righteous and cannot have sin, but there is a substitute offered.
Then your soul is saved for all eternity. We have that in those verses we read in John 3.
But we can go on to other things.
Things that encourage those of us that do believe that. I'd like to ask just a few more things of what you believe about this one, if you've come with me that far and answering those things that you believe about Jesus Christ.
Do you believe that he is risen?
Paul.
In the next epistle that he writes.
Says that that's crucial.
That you believe that Jesus is risen. He says that in the 15th chapter, One Corinthians.
He says.
Well, he puts it in the negative. First. He's saying that if you don't if.
He's saying if it didn't happen, you have no salvation. But he's saying.
In verse twenty of First Corinthians 15.
But now is Christ risen from the dead.
And become the first fruits of them that slept.
It's important that you believe this about Jesus Christ because it affects.
Your destiny, it's all tied in with that question about do you believe that there is eternal life because.
As you observed.
This body dies. We do believe that Jesus will come for us and we won't go through death, but up to now?
People that have inhabited their bodies on this earth have died and the body has gone into the grave. But.
Jesus said we'd have eternal life. How do you justify those things? Well, this is the chapter that Paul wrote about how that how those two things are put together.
And if you read this later.
He speaks about that body.
That's sown in death and raised and all through, as we just referred to Jesus as the Creator all through his creation. There are pictures of this happening.
Life cycles that go through what appears to be death and raised again in a different form.
There are seeds, as we know, that go through.
A swelling process, a dying process, if you will, and a sprout emerges all through God's creation. There are pictures of this happening. And Paul says you believe these things, it's going to happen to you.
00:40:00
You may die, and he's addressing those that had seen death.
If that happens to you, you will be raised.
It's part of what God has promised to those that call Jesus Lord.
The other part of it, I guess, would be what I just referred to. We believe that he's coming.
And we might not go through death.
Do you believe that?
I just want to before we go to the, just the last question I have about.
What you believe in Jesus?
I'd like to just bring one last verse.
To your attention and back to Romans again, The apostle Paul, Romans 10.
And.
Verse 9.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
And shall believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead.
Thou shalt be saved.
That's what Paul got from God as a statement to deliver.
As a promise to you, each one of you.
And those two things are connected.
Believing in your heart, but also of confessing with your mouth.
If it's real in your heart, wouldn't you want to tell others about it?
Even if, like I was, even if you're afraid you might mess it up, you might say something wrong.
I was encouraged by the fact that.
We mentioned in the afternoon meeting that we all fail, and we do.
But we have a responsibility. If we've believed in our hearts, we have a responsibility to confess it with our mouth, to speak about our Savior, our Lord Jesus to those around us, those that may not know as much as we do.
That's what Paul says leads to salvation, and we've talked about what salvation is, right?
The need to be saved from that sin that has fallen upon all of us.
I want to read one last verse.
I like to dwell on.
The wonderful blessing that God has provided for us.
But God is faithful and I'd just like to read your Sunday school verse that some of you will say tomorrow.
The last book of the Bible. And John also wrote that, didn't he?
Near the end of it.
Diversity. You're going to say tomorrow, some of you.
Whosoever.
Revelation 20, verse 15.
Whosoever.
Was not found written in the Book of Life. Was cast into the Lake of Fire.
Our hymn that we began with said, I know not why. There may be some things we don't understand about why some of these awful things have to happen, have to happen, especially as we're younger. Why does this have to happen? But do you know Jesus?
Can you trust in him that he says this is the way it has to be?
As you get older and study this and you'll find there's plenty more to learn about Jesus.
You begin to maybe understand a few of these things. You learn about God's righteousness.
You learn about some of these things, but.
Will you accept this As what?
John got directly from God a warning.
About those and how are we in the book of life?
00:45:00
Well, it's by that belief that we just talked about.
We go back to that statement that we have everlasting life through belief in Jesus Christ.
If we have that life, we're in that book.
Let me just I said that was the last verse. I apologize. One more thing that John wrote. You won't have to turn back many pages.
The 5th chapter of John's first epistle.
John wrote some letters as well, as well as his gospel.
I just want to read verse 10.
First John 510.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, he that believeth not God.
Hath made him a liar because he believed not the record that God gave of his Son, and God used this man John to record.
Those things that we read about Jesus Christ.
Have you thought about the fact that the opportunity, the alternative to believing these questions that I've just brought before you, the alternative is saying, God, you're a liar?
Is that a scary thing to you?
God, you're a liar. Would you say that?
We know there are people that say that. Well, they say there's no God.
Essentially, they're saying God is a liar.
A statement like that, it's.
It's solemn and it requires that judgment that we read about in the last book of the Bible, that those that make statements that persist in that statement, I should say I'll be cast into the lake of fire.
But there's so much. The message is so much happier than that. It's just a warning, but the message is about life.
It's called the Gospel for a reason. It's a message of joy. Life is offered.
In Jesus Christ.
Let's sing one last hymn about our Lord Jesus.
There is a savior.
1.
Three.
For you and me, He's a loving Savior. Come now to Jesus. Let's give him thanks.
John 18:10-27
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Maybe it would be a good idea to continue in that chapter if it's all right with the brethren here.
I was suggesting we might continue in that chapter.
Do you agree with that? I had the same thought. It's a long chapter, a very profitable one, and be nice to go on with it if everyone else is happy with that.
What way should we start at?
Yeah.
And whether we do it, should we read the entire chapter again or.
I would suggest maybe down to the 27th verse with that be all right.
John's Gospel chapter 18, beginning at verse 10.
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smoked a high priest servant.
And cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus. But then said to Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my father had given me. Shall I not drink it?
Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him, and led him away to Anna's first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people, and Simon Peter followed Jesus.
And so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then set the damsel that kept the door unto Peter.
Ought not thou also one of this man's disciples? He sayeth I am not. And the servants and officers stood there who had made a fire of holes, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and warm himself. The high priest that asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine, Jesus answered him.
I speak openly to the world, to the world I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort. And in secret have I said nothing? Why askest thou me? Ask them which hurt me what I have said unto them? Behold, they know what I said. And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the bomb of his hand.
Seeing answerers, thou the High Priest soul, Jesus answered him. If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil if, But if well wise, mightest thou me? So Agnes has sent him bound. And the Caiaphas, the High Priest, and Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They sat therefore unto him. Art not thou also one of his disciples? And he denied it.
And said I am not one of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman.
Whose ear? Peter cut off said, did not I see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again, and immediately the cock crew.
We have to remember here.
From the vantage point of view and me who are on Christian ground.
That we are dealing with those who had been brought up on Jewish ground.
And that even though the times of the Gentiles had begun with Nebuchadnezzar, and in that sense the Jews had not had a sovereign nation since that time, yet they were still living in a dispensation where it was right for them to pick up the sword and to defend themselves and to defend God's claims. So that in one sense we can understand very fully how that Peter.
00:05:23
Felt free to defend the Lord Jesus and even had the sword right at hand there and ready to do so.
But it was a new thing, no doubt, to see the Son of God. And Peter knew him very clearly and definitely as the Son of God. He had confessed. And thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. To see that one, tell Peter, Peter, put your sword back.
The Father has given me this cup to drink. Prior to this, Peter had reproached the Lord Jesus when he had tried to tell them about what was to take place, how that he must be taken by the Jews and must die and rise again the third day and so on. Peter had reproached the Lord, saying No, no Lord, this, this will never be to you. And the Lord Jesus had had to.
Recognize and identify.
That was Satan in Peter that was trying to take him away and turn him aside from what the Father had given him to do. And so we find here that the Lord reproaches Peter. And although it's not recorded here, we know that He healed that servant's ear in order to show very clearly the character of things that He was introducing. The old dispensation man was responsible and able to defend himself.
The Lord Jesus was introducing a new dispensation where you and I would not in that sense try and straighten out the world, but would rather submit to what it did to us.
And so we can understand on the one hand what Peter did. Yes, it wasn't with the mind of the Lord, but we can understand the tendency there, and the Lord Jesus does not.
Shall we say, give Peter a very hard time about it, except simply to point out that he should put that sword away, because what was going to happen was not merely what men were doing, but it was the will of the Father.
Peter had not.
Stayed awake and watched in the hour of Gethsemane when the Lord took the cup from the Father. And so he was not prepared for this hour. His heart was right, but he was unintelligent as to the mind of the Father. And so he he's off course and he's walking in his own strength.
It's beautiful to see how patient the Lord is with them on those two occasions this night.
Umm, you know, we give a Lord a lot of work, brethren, and Peter's better than most of us.
And his heart was right, but he didn't.
He didn't know the mind of the Lord here, and earlier the Lord had Peter said I prayed for you and he told him to be ready. Now Peter's not ready and so he gives the Lord more work. But why does this? Why is this recorded here? John doesn't write this, I don't think to single out Peter as the offender.
I look at it as the backdrop to show the opposite of what the Lord Jesus was.
The Lord Jesus wasn't defending himself, He was obedient to the Father.
To take that cup of death and drink it and go to the cross.
And so.
These little scenes here.
Stand in contrast to show who the Lord Jesus and what he did.
So it's an encouragement to us. The Lord Jesus perfectly entered into this situation.
He was aware perfectly of the Father's will.
And that the cup was the father was giving him, was his to drink, and he goes along the path of that.
00:10:08
Peter doesn't understand, and so he goes along with true heartedness.
But in the path of nature, in the path of the thoughts of the natural mind in such a circumstance and with a desire to help the Lord in that circumstance. And so it's a good lesson for us that do we want to walk in according to the mind of God, We need to benefit from the way the Lord Jesus.
Knew the mind of God. Yes, as a divine person He knew it perfectly, but also He had the words of the Father.
The the words that he gave were the words of the Father to him to give and he told the disciples when they wanted to ask for something in the 15th chapter he said you asked the Father and he'll do it for you. But in that expression of what he was saying is.
And you too have the words of the Father. And if we want to walk with God in our lives.
We need to receive His mind and we get it in the Word of God, independence and obedience to it to walk in it.
Sometimes when we want to do something, we say, well, what's the Lord want me to do? Or, and we should. Or other times when we're in a situation and we're not prepared for it and we don't know how to act or we act improperly and realize it later, like Peter realized later he hadn't acted correctly in the circumstance.
You have to remember that the preparation comes before the test.
Preparation comes before the test. The test is to bring out what's there. And so every day of our lives we have opportunity to receive from the Lord so that when He chooses to bring a test to us, or a circumstance where we are to be bearing fruit for Him, we will be prepared as His servants to do so. And if we're not prepared, the Lord still loves us.
And he will often use a failure like he used in Peter's life.
To teach him a lesson so that he would be prepared for the service that was to be given to him in the end of the gospel. Lord doesn't give up on us when we pass a test. He loves us, we're His, and He wants to use us. But if we don't learn it at His feet, we will learn it like Peter does here also, though with the intent that in his love and grace He will still go on with His purpose of using us.
Sometimes we give up on ourselves when the Lord hasn't given up on us.
Well, we've remarked before about the high priest. It's important to realize that the.
Office of the High Priest had in many senses ceased to be.
Something that passed on in the lineage of Aaron as that God had intended it. Sad to say, it had become largely a political office and was often.
Manipulated around with politics and with things like that. And that's why the reference here to Anise, who was father-in-law, to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year, it seems as if this family had.
A hold on the high priesthood, and it didn't much matter which one took the place, but the family was in charge. Very, very sad, because the high priest in the Old Testament was intended to be a representative of God, and the priest in that sense really spoke of the Lord Jesus, who was the mediator between God and man.
And we find here what a sad thing had happened, that men had taken that.
Wonderful place that God had prepared in order to illustrate the position of the Lord Jesus as our great High Priest, and in order to illustrate the one who was, as our hymn sometimes puts it.
00:15:05
Our both our sacrifice and priest. Both our sacrifice and priest.
And yet here, how far apart they are, how far apart this one who is in the position of high priest from the one who stands before him, the true high priest. And yet it's wonderful how that God uses that man to prophecy. And it mentions it here. It's in the 11Th chapter of this same gospel that this man had actually prophesied and said it's expedient for one man to die for the people.
Now Caiaphas of course, thought that he would make the Lord Jesus a scapegoat for the whole nation.
Let's get rid of this man, otherwise the Romans will come along and think that we've got a king.
Who's going to lead a rebellion? And we'll lose everything, so let them go and it'll save us.
But unwittingly he was giving expression, even as an unbeliever, to the mind of God. Because it was indeed true, wasn't it? The Lord Jesus was going to die for the people. And so God could use the mouthpiece of that man who was a wicked man who had no care for God or for the Lord Jesus, only for his own wicked ends to be a mouthpiece unwittingly for the mind of God concerning His beloved Son.
Might have thought that Peter would have said whoops.
I better stop here because.
I just did something and it really didn't. The Lord had to tell me. No, Peter, that's not the way to do it. And.
Sometimes when the Lord allows something to happen in our lives, I think sometimes it's something, a voice to us that's saying stop.
I want to talk to you. There's something to be learned here, but nature doesn't tend to stop.
And so in verse 15.
Simon Peter followed Jesus.
He's ready to go on with and his hearts.
Good. He loved the Lord, He told the Lord. I'm willing to die with you, Lord.
And he meant it. He didn't realize himself in his own limitations, but at least his desire.
Peters to be respected for the true heartedness of his attachment to the Lord Jesus.
And yet we're going to see that if you follow the Lord according to the energy of nature.
Ultimately, it's not enough.
It just isn't enough. We can't follow the Lord without the power of God by the Spirit working for us and in us. But Peter here hasn't learned that yet. And so he's, he goes on and he'll continue on in this chapter until he's fulfilled what the Lord warned him about concerning himself. But nonetheless, sometimes we also tend to do that.
With a in this measure of right motivation. But we also have to learn that nature can't do it. We can't follow the Lord in the strength of nature. We need God's work by the Spirit to sustain us, to hold us up in the tests that sometimes come in service to the Lord or just plain daily life.
What the Lord Jesus says to Peter here.
Shows exactly that he is in command of the situation.
He lets events now take its course.
Now then, the band and the captain of the officer said take Jesus and found him. I often thought they didn't need to do that. He would have gone along without resistance. Yet they wanted to show that he was now in their power and they were going to take him away.
And which they did.
And they led him into their counsel. Now they thought it was.
00:20:03
Now up to them.
To do with him what they pleased. And yet we can see all the way through.
That the Lord Jesus knew all the things that were common upon Him.
Well, we find John being brought in here, don't we? And John doesn't name himself when he talks about himself, that other disciple, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and so on. But we find that John is mentioned here.
And we might wonder why Peter failed and John didn't fail in the same way.
Because we know from reading other scriptures that when the band of soldiers came to arrest the Lord Jesus.
That it says all the disciples forsook him and fled. So it wasn't only some of them, but all of them. And we know that Peter's boast.
Had come to nothing.
But that he comes back here.
And John 2 The others, we don't know about whether they ever showed up here. We don't. We're not sure we're not. They're not talked about.
But I suppose the difference between John and Peter is that John didn't pretend to be what he was not.
Peter did. Peter pretended to have a strength in himself that, as Don has mentioned, he didn't have. Peter pretended to be able to stand for the Lord, to go into death with him if necessary, in his own strength. And as we've had before us, the believer can do that only if he has the Lord before him and if he's empowered by the Lord and by the Spirit of God to stand firm. And down through the ages, how many dear believers have stood firm for Christ in the face of.
Tremendous persecution have stood firm in the face of death and faced it, even the most cruel death.
But they couldn't do it in their own strength, and John doesn't pretend to be what he was not. He had run away too, evidently, but he comes back.
And he goes into the palace of the high priest, having.
Made no assurances to the Lord about what he wouldn't or wouldn't do, but simply brings in Peter in order that they might see what happened.
And it's a lesson for you and for me, isn't it? Yes, in our own strength, we're all going to fail. And I appreciate Dough's remark earlier on that all of this only sets in relief the Lord Jesus in his ultimate perfection. You and I find failure in ourselves, every one of us. John failed, Peter failed, Pilate failed, the chief priests failed, the other disciples failed, The people of Israel failed. Didn't matter who they were.
But there was one whose character, if we could use that term reverently, there's one who stands out in absolute perfection here, and all of the failure of the others only sets him in wonderful relief.
We can be thankful the Lord still loves us in our failures, and the Lord is standing by his disciples here.
He didn't say, Well, I'll rather do it alone without you. Now that you've let me down, that's the way I might have behaved.
But he still wanted Peter. He still could use Peter. In fact, he could use them better than ever afterward. And so there was a reason for Peter to go through this.
There's another thing I'd like to comment on here and that is the IT was mentioned earlier about that the Kingdom had been taken from Israel at the time of Nebuchadnezzar several 100 years earlier than this. But since that time God and Gavin Israel a measure of recovery and given him a temple and A and a place to worship in the priesthood. And that had carried on until this day and I believe it was recognized of God still.
At this time. But here you have God putting the test to the priesthood.
It's going to be set aside to the priesthood of Aaron and it's the followers and so on. And so it's it's really what's on trial here, not the Lord Jesus.
00:25:07
All that this presentation of before Caiaphas and Annas and so on, is they are, they are set up with a perfect man to deal with. What are they going to do with him?
And they condemned themselves by judging him and delivering him, causing him to be delivered over to the Romans to be crucified. And so as we read this chapter and see this, we see how that the Lord Jesus here. It was the test. And of course we know from the book of Hebrews that it's because he was going to introduce the true priesthood after the character of these these men here. But.
Not after their behavior. And so this, this the Lord Jesus presented here before these ones is, is this test being applied. Don spoke earlier about the test of the different ones. It's a proving test. It's, it's to show up what there really is. That's the light that comes in. In this Gospel, John, John presents him the light of the world. When the light comes in, it makes everything manifest. When Jesus is brought on the sin scene, he makes evident manifest.
The character that the hearts and intents of everyone around them. And so the priesthood here is going to be set aside because of what it does here.
Is it so that in secular history it brings out the Anise was a Pharisee and Caiaphas was a Sadducee?
So marriage between the families is really a compromise. It's quite a contrast with Speaking of the Lord Jesus when it says he spake as having authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees.
Here, he's superior to it all, isn't it?
There are a number of ways in which the Lord Jesus fulfills something that had been given originally to Israel, but they had failed in it, and God, by these final expressions and tests of it, puts it aside.
And replaces it with himself, the Lord Jesus, and then there will be no other.
There will not be any to come after him.
Israel as a nation was a true vine.
I shouldn't say true vine. Israel as a nation was a vine to produce fruit for God in the earth.
But as a vine for God in the earth, Israel didn't produce any fruit.
And so the Lord Jesus earlier in this gospel says to them in the 15th chapter.
I am the true vine He replaces in the earth.
Israel in his person and becomes the true vine, and the people of Israel the branches, and then there will be fruit in the earth through him.
But it'll never be replaced with another. It will go on into the millennial earth. They had a king, but the king and the history of the kings in Israel fails. And by this time that what we're reading this afternoon, they had become so unfaithful in that line of things that the Gentiles were ruling over them.
But in the person of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah was the King, and consequently he will be. When he comes back to reign, He will be the King, and there will be none to replace him, but he will continue on to the end. In the case of the High priest, it's the same.
They had the high priest and they had the line of the priest, but we find them come down to this sad end that has been described to us of multiple high priests at once and different high priests for a year and so on.
And the High Priesthood in that line of things is set aside forever.
The Lord Jesus replaces it as our High Priest now, but in Israel in the millennial picture in the Old Testament. I think if traced out, one will see that there is no replacement for the Lord Jesus. There will not be another High priest in Israel, but he is the replacement and He is perfect. And God doesn't need another line, if you will.
00:30:14
It's just a joy to the heart to see the beauty of the Word of God in tracing out how the Lord Jesus becomes one who so perfectly does the will of God in every respect that God says, as it were. That's good. I don't need another one.
And I don't need to replace him because he can continue before me as long as there's a need for that function and he does so. And so, brethren, we want to enjoy him as God enjoys him. We want to see him as God sees him, as the one that God says, that's my man. And he's my man in every of these important details, including here the question of the high priest.
Glimpses of his priestly care intercession here in the chapter like.
When he says if you seek me, let these go their way. He was caring more for them than he was himself.
And as far as care of them, he heals well, doesn't say it here, but he he did heal the the servant of the high priest here had been cut off by Peter and.
And elsewhere he speaks about Peter. He says I prayed for thee. That was on this night, too. That's the priest we want. That's the priest we need. They'll cares for us.
I've drawn here is excellent. It's remarkable.
He doesn't say anything, but he goes in with those that took the Lord Jesus.
And we read that he was known to the high priest.
And his identity was not questioned at all.
While Peter's identity was questioned.
And we are not told what relationship he had with the high priest.
Yet he being the one whom the Lord Jesus loved, he had the mind of the Lord Jesus.
So he must have had also an excellent report with the people.
Because even the high priest would not object of him coming in, and then he had the authority to let Peter in.
Everybody has a personality.
Everybody in this room has their own personality, and we're born with certain tendencies toward it. Personalities, in some respects, general characteristics of personalities run in families, and we say, oh, that's the characteristic of that family and so on. And it's true.
Peter, and God allows us to see when he gives us much of A history of one of his own. Sometimes that personality reveals itself to us. And Peter was impetuous. He was one of these act now, think later people. And we see him multiple times in his history doing things as it were, on the spur of the moment, impetuously.
And having to learn whatever lesson either. He didn't think very long, he just pulled out the sword and cut his ear off.
When it came to it.
And but the .2 Things I want to bring out out of that is that first of all, all he needed when he had his sword was to pull it out and cut off the servant's ear. You could do that impetuously. But now when it's a matter of inning into the palace, he can't act that way. He comes to a door and he couldn't just impetuously kick the door down and go on in.
He needed help to get through that door. The first one that had to help him was a brother in the faith. John comes to the door and tells the keeper of the door. It's all right, let him in. And so he couldn't act on his own natural inclination. But also it needed the doorkeeper, which was a girl, which in Scripture in that sense wasn't the strength of a sword carrying.
00:35:17
Person.
But the Lord often allows us.
To face a situation where we can't act in our natural personalities and get through it, but we're faced with the dependence on others in the situation. And even in that situation, sometimes we'll say the feeblest circumstance that we have to depend on, we can't handle. And Peter can't handle it. She asks him a question and he can't answer it rightly.
He lies and.
It's intended, I think, brethren, to teach us that sometimes the Lord will bring us to a point where the feeblest thing we can't handle or we just fail in it. And it wasn't a very big matter really that he was being asked. He was just being asked by the girl. Aren't you one? And no.
Enough, and he lies.
Cut off a servant's ear if you could, But when he's faced with this seemingly much easier situation, you can't handle it. And the Lord often allows us to be in a situation that isn't very big to show us that neither are we, at least in ourselves. And we're not big. But I want to make one other connection with Peter.
You may have a natural disposition, and so may I, but we don't have to live all our lives under the power of it and its weaknesses.
Paul was an insolent, overbearing man when he was saved, but later on in his life, his personality he was as a nurse cherishes her children. Peter was naturally an impetuous man in his personality and it's seen in him. But when you go to his epistles and you read them in that sense, you don't find that character coming out in his epistles. Rather you find the character of one who says.
Brethren, we've got to go on and endure to the end of the road, and the Lord is going to take us to the end of the road and it's going to be salvation.
And so he's taught, and he's able to teach his brethren something that requires not being impetuous, but the long road and the long way. And so it is with us, too. The Lord's intent is not to make us live our lives under the control of our natural dispositions if they're not of Himself, but rather to change us so that we are, in everyday life, conformed to what He wants us to be.
Quite a bit younger, wasn't he, than Peter? And sometimes I think of this that he was.
Diligent at perhaps reasoning with the priests. This is the Messiah.
And they might have been very patient with him, thinking, well, this guy's so young, we can bear with it, you know, and we'll just prove now as we try him that and John will see the lights. But we find him standing up in the book of Acts, don't we? Very boldly. And a great number of the priests believe. And it's really a wonderful thing that the Lord has someone there.
He has disposed the hearts of men in the whole situation.
And it's to John that he commends his mother.
So those personalities that the Lord gives us are not necessarily wrong in themselves. It's to bring our personality to submission to the Lord and to be used in obedience and faith to Him. And then the strong, then it'll be a strong feature. Maybe it's not called impetuousness, but that boldness that he spoke on Day of Pentecost. John probably couldn't have done that. Peter could, and so the Lord used him.
Leader.
And the Lord used that under his control to make him a leader among the disciples.
See here.
00:40:01
That Peter warned himself with the enemies of the Lord Jesus.
And the fact is that none of us can be warmed.
Or warm ourselves in any character with the enemies of the Lord Jesus. He didn't get warmed at all there.
He had to leave then, and to weep bitterly, as we know, and then that's when he got back to his senses.
Not in this room, but it is cold in the world tonight at the present time and man tries to find something to warm himself and Peter need to be warm too. The point is really accurate mentions is that be sure you warm yourself with the right people and buy the right fire. There is a need for warm but.
There is falsehoods, fires, there's the world's fires by which they try to warm themselves, and then there's the warmth that comes in Christianity in the presence of the Lord Jesus. That is the true place for getting the warmth that we all need.
Application. It isn't really the main point here at all, but just a contrast of two little sets of words. The Lord Jesus said I am, Peter said I am not, and it's good for us brethren to remember He is the I am and we are not.
It's helpful to us if we can keep ourselves in the right place and relationship with himself, and in that sense, that's not exactly the point here. It is not he's doing something wrong here, but there is something right for us in our own hearts to recognize we are attached to the I am, but in another sense, we can say I am not.
Some could say I am nothing in one sense, and another way say I can do all things through. Christ would strengtheneth me.
Perfect.
Young ones that maybe need a little explanation on.
These trials.
There is a Jewish trial here.
Informal trial with Ananias and then it goes to a preliminary trial that is with.
Cephas there and.
Also with the Sanhedrin, the Gospel of John does not have.
That final trial with the Sanhedrin is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Also there is a Gentile trial.
A Gentile trial is with Pilot.
On the first stage, they're both in three stages, by the way. The second stage pilot sends them to Herod the king, and the third stage Herod sends him back to Pilate, who releases Barabbas. So we see three stages in the Jewish trial and three stages in the Gentile trial.
And I hope that maybe just that short explanation might clarify in the minds.
Of some of the younger ones that are doing some reading about this.
Well, we find the Lord Jesus reacting.
00:45:01
In a right way here when he's brought before the high priest.
The high priest starts to ask him, What are you teaching? What are you doing? What are you?
Kind of disciples do you have And so on.
And the Lord Jesus quite properly reminds him that this was out of order.
It's not wrong in that sense to ask the prisoner certain questions, but if they were going to apply the rule of law, here was a man as they thought.
Who had always taught out in the open, who had always spoken clearly and definitely. There had been no secret meetings. There had been no double talk. There had no been. There had been no sabotage behind the scenes or trying to overthrow things. It was all right out in the open. And so the Lord Jesus quite properly reminds them that if they wanted to know what he had said or what he had done, they were hundreds, maybe thousands probably.
Who could well vouch for what the Lord Jesus has said?
But why did the trial go this way? What was going on?
Or was an age-old trick. They knew that if they called right witnesses.
That they had nothing by which to accuse the Lord Jesus, and they knew very well.
That what they wanted to do, they were going to do anyway, no matter what the witnesses said.
In recent years.
I've read several books concerning the Holocaust in Germany.
And it brings tears to your eyes to see the things that were done, the mock trials that were held.
The things that were said that were untrue, the way the whole situation was handled, the lies that were told to other nations, the way things were covered up that were going on under the awful rule of the Nazis.
But I couldn't help thinking as I read some of those books, some of them written by Jews that had survived the Holocaust.
And the bitterness, the anger, the despair and the way they wrote came through very loudly.
I couldn't help but think.
Yes, and that is exactly the way the Son of God was treated.
And we don't point the finger at the Jews. They were responsible. God holds them responsible.
And they will pay the utmost Farthing, as it were, for that awful crime during the Tribulation.
But they were only a sampling of mankind, weren't they? And if God had picked up another nation instead of the Jews and made them His chosen people, you and I have to admit that we wouldn't have turned out any better. And so we're all guilty, because this is the natural heart of man. The natural heart of man that determines what he wants to do and then manipulates with a show of holding court, with a show of trying to do things in a proper way, but yet already having his mind made-up.
And so once again, it puts in relief the perfection of the Son of God.
And on the other hand, the heart of man, the Lord Jesus, submits perfectly to what went on here. But he reminds.
That high priest who was starting to question him.
Ask those call witnesses if you really want to know. Call some of those that heard me. They know what I said. Let them bear witness if they will.
But all he gets is an unrighteous slap on the mouth, supposedly for talking that way to the high priest. Well, what an awful indictment of the heart of man. But what a wonderful display of the heart of God and of the perfection of His beloved Son.
What you say, Bill, reminds me of what it says in Luke when the Lord is being LED up to that.
He says, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
The Lord Jesus could foresee what was going to happen to that nation.
How they would be accused and passed through similar things. The Holocaust is 1 fulfillment of it. It's happened over and over again to that people.
It's the same thing they treated the same way they treated the Lord Jesus right here.
And so God is in his government has allowed them to have to feel those kind of things. So we see it here. It is a mock trial and.
00:50:12
He is not caught off guard. He doesn't speak out of turn. He's perfect.
He's not.
Has he does not have a secret agenda, never did, and they are the ones that did and he perceives it. They don't catch him off guard here.
They don't get him and take him because of their thing. They're being more astute than him.
Now he's given himself here because the father said this.
Was his path.
Few comments on bills.
Thought that something more might be brought out on the trials and the character of them when God formed the nation of Israel.
The matter of administration was put into the hand of Moses, and in priestly things into the hand of his brother Aaron, and it began that way. Moses father-in-law decided it was too big a job for Moses, and so he said, why don't you get some people to help you?
And then if the matter is difficult and they can't handle it, then bring it to you and so on.
There really wasn't the mind of Jehovah, but he allowed it to go that way and.
So there was in Israel as a nation both a religious area of administration or government, and there was also when they had a king, there was the civil.
Administration of the Cares of the Nation.
But.
When they became so unfaithful.
To the Lord He brought his governmental hand down upon them.
He removes both the high priest and the king.
That in which governmental responsibility was connected. He takes them into Babylon and the Lord, at least in the record of Scripture, I don't believe there is a restoration of the high priestly function specifically that the Lord sets up, nor although there is the high priest here. How they came to be what they were, I don't know. They've taken that place. They've taken Moses seat.
And the Lord said they've taken the seat, recognize it, they never had a king again. And coming down to this time.
And the result of it is manifested here in what we have in this way.
And it's this.
They because of their an unfaithfulness, the Gentile now rules over them.
The Romans have come in and conquered the country and said and set up their own government.
And limited the Jews, even the religious aspect of them. For example, we have here they were not allowed under Roman rule to have a death sentence.
Under the Old Testament economy, there was there were offenses in the nation in which they were to put to death. But the Romans who conquer them say, ah, you can't do that. You can have your own laws and rules up to that point, but if it's a matter of somebody being put to death, you've got to come to us and we'll decide one way or the other. So the Jews here had determined that they wanted him put to death. They didn't have the authority, the right under Roman rule to do it.
So they have to take him to Pilate, who had that authority as representing the Romans.
But not to get into more detail and in view of the time, I want to make out, bring out two points of connection with it. The Lord allows it. I should say God allows it. These trials, false as they were, to come to the point where decisions are made by the people as a whole as well as the authorities and the Jews wrongly said to try to get rid of the Lord Jesus.
We have no king but Caesar. Actually, the sect of Jews called the Herodians had embraced that idea, which they should not have. They should have said we have no king, but they shouldn't have said but Caesar, because Caesar properly was not a Jewish king. However they make the statement We have no king but Caesar. They also make the choice not this man Jesus, but Barabbas.
00:55:13
And the consequences of those two choices have been with the world. Not just the Jew, but the Gentile as well stands under the governmental hand of God to this day, 2000 years later for those two choices.
God still allows the government of the world to be in Caesar's hands.
And he's a lousy king. The world's suffering because.
Caesar doesn't know how to control rightly the world. And the second thing when they say not this man, but Barabbas. Barabbas was a robber, a murderer. He was a revolutionist. And that has characterized the world to this day.
This is a world. There hasn't been a year of my lifetime, nor yours, where there is an active war going on in this world. Why?
Because the world chose Barabbas and God said you want Barabbas, you're going to have them.
Until the true king comes, and then you'll have peace.
And then you'll have righteous rule.
But as long as the world is under the governmental hand of its choice of no king but Caesar and Barabbas, it's going to go on as it is now, with its wars and its rumors of wars. And it's going to affect not only the Jew as it does, but it also affects the gentile. And it will continue to do so.
And number 84?
Verse four Through his name we are forgiven. Oh, how he loves backward shall our foes be driven. Know how he loves best of blessings He'll provide us not, but good shall Erbititus save to glory. He will guide us. Oh how he loves. Number 84 in the back of the book.
Grace
Address—Doug Buchanan
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I'd like to open our meeting this afternoon with hymn #10.
For you younger children, you're only going to have to count to 10 for my meeting because we're not going to sing any songs above that number.
Hymn #10.
Grace is the sweetest sound.
When you come.
Here.
Before we.
Make pray I want I have a special request.
40 minutes ago I received a call from Florida asking prayer for Caleb Roorda, the son of Paul and Irene Roorda. He has left a note.
Of disappearing.
And they cannot find him.
And search is being made.
Suicide is feared.
So let's pray for that dear young man, his soul and the family, as well as our time together here.
At the close of the last meeting, our brother read.
I believe it's from Luke.
About.
Them marveling at the gracious words that came out of.
The mouth of the Lord Jesus.
It's my purpose this afternoon to take up this subject of grace, which many know is a favorite of mine.
This news.
That we just received.
Certainly impacts our souls as to the need.
That our human hearts have of forgiveness, of love.
Of grace.
The national news of late has been much occupied with a young man who took his life.
00:05:01
Because of the shame.
That he had been exposed to.
Publicly.
We're going to read about a woman that went through that.
And how the Lord?
Stood by that woman.
An extended forgiveness to her.
That's in the 8th chapter of John. Again, we don't need to count past 10.
In the 9th chapter of John.
We also have a story about a man.
Who is destitute, blind from his birth?
And we might be summed up this way.
We see how the grace of God and the government of God.
Worked in a man's life to bring blessing.
In the first story, we're going to notice how that the grace of God and the truth of God.
Can unite together.
In spite of what we are to bless us.
This is a wonderful subject.
It's good that our heart be established with grace.
We were singing of it being like a mine of wealth.
Grace, the Law was given by Moses. Let's just turn to that John's Gospel, chapter one.
Verse 17.
The law, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
These are two opposite principles.
Law and grace.
And we understand readily that law is giving people what they deserve or what they merit, what they work for, what they obtain by their own means.
Grace, on the other hand, is giving according to the goodness of the donor, the giver, and it supposes.
A resource, a capacity to bless.
And Jesus Christ had that.
All the treasures.
In the counsels of God.
All the treasures that God could purpose and think of. Indiana is in the past eternity.
Can come to fruition.
Because of the principle of grace.
Without compromising.
One iota of truth.
Sometimes we have a rather shallow perception.
Of what grace is that? It's like passing over what really people deserve and not applying it.
Or as if it might be.
Some virtue within ourselves to merit God's goodness.
Grace may be used in that way, but it's not the principle.
Of what this verse is Speaking of.
Our God.
Has the Storehouse a blessing for you and for me?
Unbelief keeps us from laying hold of it sometimes.
Inward focus on ourselves.
Will keep our eye from.
Considering what Jesus Christ really has brought to us.
The acronym for GRACE has.
Sometimes been said.
God's riches at Christ's expense.
I think that fits a nice description.
Grace and truth.
00:10:02
At Christ's expense of going to Calvary's cross.
He can administer freely to all of us who are undeserving.
Is grace.
Calvary is the truth of God judging sin for all.
That it demanded, that it required.
And God now looks down upon you and me.
Favorably disposed to bless us.
And it's a laying hold of this that will change our lives.
You know this past week.
Bob and I were at a meeting for prisoners.
Where they had a group of speakers together.
To prepare those about to come out into society or be put on parole from incarceration to prepare them.
To defend themselves or to live?
Their lives.
Rightly before their fellow citizens, because there's a real challenge of coming out of prison for many years and facing society and all the temptations.
And all the attractions are there that can take people and drag them down.
Into sin.
Really appreciated some of the words that the Christian men spoke.
Advice given to those men.
After the meetings were over, we had a luncheon together and we met a very interesting man.
I was charmed by him.
You could see in his face.
A love for souls and an outreach. An appreciation for the gospel and the Lord Jesus.
We conversed with this man. His name was Manny. He doesn't live too far from here.
And he deals with these kind of people.
In the course of our conversation.
I mentioned about Paul being the chief of sinners.
Oh, he smiled.
And he looked at me straight in the eye, and he said, you know, Paul wasn't the chief of sinners. I was.
And he meant it, he said. Paul wrote that before I was born. He might have been the chief then, but I'm the chief now.
And I've been forgiven.
That man understood grace.
There was number need to diminish or pretend that his past history wasn't as bad as it could have been thought to be, as society might require.
And this man was taking up the very occupation.
Because he had been incarcerated too, for his sins.
And he was using his life story as a witness to help these men.
And he helped me even though I haven't been in prison for my sins, though I deserve it.
A sense of grace keeps us in our souls. Young people, you don't have to go out and live your life like some of those men have.
To understand grace.
Many times we do, sad to say, and that's where the government of God comes in, allowing us.
Sometimes to go down a certain course because we won't learn it by precept or being told.
Let's turn over to the 8th chapter of John.
00:15:14
Beginning with verse 2.
We're going to read through this before we make comments.
And early in the morning.
This is Jesus in verse one. He came again into the temple.
And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.
The Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.
And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.
But Jesus stood down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
As though you heard them not.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And again he stooped down and rode on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out 1 by 1.
Beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.
And Jesus was left alone.
And the woman standing in the midst, when Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he saith unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord.
Jesus said unto her, Neither do I commit them thee go, and sin no more.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Wonderful to have the light.
And where the light shines, the love covers, as we've often enjoyed.
Because the light of God also reveals the love of God.
And so grace and truth are able to come together and meet together.
And both be applied to the full extent.
And yet have a soul forgiven and blessed.
That's grace and truth.
And this story of this poor woman.
Is a real example of that.
And it was brought to the Lord.
This whole story is brought to pass.
Because of unbelief of a group of people.
Who didn't understand or appreciate grace?
A little bit like the elder brother of the prodigal son.
Who was envious and angry because the Father would receive a wayward son and forgive him and bless him?
Why did he have that anger?
He didn't understand Grace.
He could not conceive of how his brother would deserve such a such a treatment.
Now before the Lord Jesus spoke this story.
In our 8th chapter here if we go back to the third chapter.
We would hear him saying these words.
As Moses lifted up the serpent.
In the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That whosoever believeth in him should have.
00:20:04
I think I left out a clause.
Should not, should not perish, but have eternal life.
Our blessed Savior spoke these words.
About his being lifted up on Calvary's cross.
Being made a curse bearing the judgment there so that we might have life.
The foundation is being laid for God's blessing.
To flow out.
Without compromising his truths and sin that must be judged.
Was to fall on him, and he uttered those words.
It hadn't even yet taken place yet.
But in anticipation of that.
He could stand before these Pharisees.
Before this poor woman.
And he could stoop down on the ground and wait.
And we might ask ourselves.
Why?
Did he stoop down?
Why didn't he answer him straight away?
Did he not know the answer?
Oh yes.
He knew the answer.
He knew what was entailed.
For him to administer forgiveness to that woman.
He had a love for that woman.
And her soul destiny.
And he had a love for those Pharisees.
That were standing there accusing him.
And he knew if it was going to come to throwing stones.
He would probably have to stone one of them before he stoned the woman.
Doesn't matter where you fit in, friend or brother.
Whether you're at the top of the list or at the bottom of the list.
You need grace.
We need forgiveness, and we have.
We are not told what he wrote.
Not sure why.
A lot of us have enjoyed different thoughts.
And I think I've enjoyed everyone of them and they've all been different.
Because they have a mired right moral teaching.
You know sometimes to understand the scriptures.
You have to know the man that wrote them.
And when you know the man that wrote them.
You can figure things out sometimes what it's like.
That's what it is about grace, too.
Our Lord Jesus said to his disciples, when he sent them out, he said freely you have received, freely give.
And they were pretty generous people.
They did a lot of wonderful things, a lot of witnesses to what God love and care is. How could they doubt that and bring a case like this of a woman like this before him?
And belief.
You know.
When we read our media today in the newspapers and other media today and we shouldn't do it too much, but sometimes we need to get keep it current a little bit.
Doesn't take very long. No matter what kind of media you read, you'll find it full of stories like what we just read.
Except for leaving the Savior out.
Sad.
People get themselves into so many predicaments.
00:25:01
Maybe right there where you're sitting in your chair, you're in a situation you don't know how to handle.
We get, we get ourselves into those kind of things.
They're real.
But we have the answer.
Depending on the grace of God.
Strong, my son, be strong.
This is not being wishy washy about sin. This is not passing over.
I think this very story would intimate to us how the people in the world look at forgiveness.
They look at it as compromising.
They look at it as not right.
How can God take a criminal, the chief of sinners to seven, to heaven? And here's a good man who never murdered anybody, never beat his wife, never stole?
And he stands in his own goodness.
And he goes to hell.
Calvary.
You have to see the whole story.
You have to see the basis upon which God.
Gives forgiveness.
And because of that judgment, that was so completely born.
Because God is so satisfied with it.
He gives into the hands of the Lord Jesus.
The option to forgive whoever he wants.
And Jesus.
Gave us the preaching of it, the gospel.
To the whole world, and it's available.
But only those who claim it as their own in Jesus name.
Is there that forgiveness?
So this woman.
Can't you picture her saying this is the worst day of my life?
None of us would want.
To be taken and put in those circumstances, even those of us who raised in Christian homes and sheltered from doing a lot of these things.
We wouldn't want.
What we've done written up here before, it's possible what Jesus wrote on the ground.
Was what some of those people did.
Not told.
But I know very well that what most of us if the Lord Jesus started writing.
What we've done, Because, you know, if he died for our sins, then he knows what they were.
And he knows what the judgment of them was.
So he stooped down on the ground.
And wrote.
But they insisted.
So it says.
The law have been referred to should be stoned.
That was the way of capital punishment in those days.
Where's the mercy?
The law was given by Moses.
No one could keep it.
God's purpose, we read in the New Testament.
00:30:00
In allowing man to be put under that trial was.
To prove that sin was exceeding sinful.
That is to show man that that was not the way to be justified.
Now the man is on the scene. The Lord Jesus Christ is here.
To bring something new, a new principle of action, Grace.
These people love their law. They love their religion.
We live in a Christian land that loves religion.
And a lot of times it's used to pat people on the back and say you're not quite so bad.
Keep trying.
You're better than the other person or not next to you.
And so on.
Will that get us out of our predicament?
It wasn't helping this woman.
And yet they wanted to apply it.
Why do our hearts love the law?
Why do we like that?
We like to do things our way, our wills.
It doesn't give us any credit to take things from God on the basis of grace. It gives God all the credit.
And that's when one of the reasons why it's so wonderful.
And maybe that's probably why sometimes we're slow to lay hold of it too.
So Jesus.
Is insisting on these things he's following through.
In action and help to this woman.
He's not going to let her go. He's not going to drop her halfway through this problem.
And Lord Jesus won't do that with you either. You turn to Him.
His grace is sufficient for the whole way, not just to put your sins away.
And it's the understanding of that.
That will keep us from sin more than anything else.
If we really understand that, it will teach us to deny ungodliness and worldliness when we really understand that.
And yet one of the doctrines in the New Testament that is reticently accepted is the eternal security of a believer.
For that very reason, I don't understand grace.
Well, when the Lord rises up again.
He turns the tables.
All the concentration had been on this woman and the Lord. They were the focal point. They were in the middle, here in the midst.
Now the Lord Jesus quietly says.
He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.
Now he's taken the law.
And applying it to all the rest of them too.
He's not setting aside the law. He didn't say, oh, this doesn't apply now.
No, he's just turning the tables. You know, it's like a two edged sword. We applied the lot somebody else.
And the Word of God is that way too. It cuts both ways.
And so he simply turns the tables and applies the law to them. OK, you want to apply the law, All right. Which of you is holy and righteous enough to stand in judgment over somebody else having never failed in it and able to throw stones?
But then he Stoops down and writes on the ground again.
And again, we're not told what he wrote.
00:35:02
There's a verse in Old Testament, maybe Jeremiah, their name, about their names being written in the earth.
Could be.
Could be. He looked around, figured out which one was the great biggest Sinner, and wrote his name down there.
He could do that this afternoon if he wanted.
Our friend Manny.
He willingly admitted that. He said I was the biggest Sinner, I was the chief of sinners, and he meant it.
And every one of us can probably put our name in there too, if we really started measuring things up and looking in our own heart.
Because you know you know more about your own heart than anybody else's.
So the Lord Jesus.
Wrote on the ground.
Again.
It could have written what they'd done, whatever it was.
They touched their conscience.
Caused him to leave.
Which was the biggest mistake they made?
The light was there.
That's why he stooped down and waited the first time.
He didn't come to condemn. He didn't have a heart like they did. He didn't. He didn't rejoice in making a scandal.
It would have made good money on the in the paper today.
It would have been the feature article that people would have brought in the most because people feed on that kind of a thing.
Sad what our hearts, our fleshly hearts feed on, isn't it?
Lord Jesus doesn't have any delight in that kind of a thing.
We might ask ourselves, who do we want to stand before?
Take your pick.
You want the Pharisees to be your judges and you want to have their religion? Or do you want the Lord Jesus Christ?
That's the two choices.
Wonderful to see them here.
No compromising the law.
Could be that, he thought as he went over the life of this poor woman.
I love her enough to go to the cross for her.
I don't want a Stoner.
That's great. That's love.
They go out 1 by 1.
Nobody's left but the woman.
And this is beautiful.
He didn't want them to go away.
It had been a better thing if they'd all stayed there and let the light shine.
Let the light shine in their hearts.
Let it reveal what was there. It doesn't matter how bad it is.
It will forgive.
So.
The woman is alone.
And he asked the question, Woman, where are those nine accusers?
The first part of the question.
How wonderful for those of us here.
To be able to hear from him, those words.
Similar ones in Romans.
Who is he condemned that condemneth? It is Christ that died. He rather that is risen.
God justifies us.
Because we believe in Jesus.
Who is he that condemns no one?
No condemnation. Consider it my soul.
00:40:03
No doubt that woman will be able to sing that hymn up in glory.
We can sing it now too.
But then it goes on, and it says, hath no man.
Condemn thee.
Probing a little further.
There was still one man standing before her.
And this was a test.
Attest to faith.
And this shows that this woman believed in him. She had seen enough of the graciousness of him.
At that moment, up to that point.
That she believed in him.
And her answer proves what she believed No man.
And so.
She got.
The answer back from the Lord according to her faith.
Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.
Wonderful words. Forgiveness.
It's my desire and going on this subject.
To establish our hearts.
With a better understanding of grace.
In our dealings with one another.
As fellow Christians.
Sometimes we can be hard on one another.
And call up inconsistencies among us, our believers, our fellow believers.
And I want to qualify these words a little bit because we're going to briefly touch on in the next chapter, God's government, because I believe it's necessary for us.
In order to lay hold of grace, a work of God's government is very often necessary to bring us to the sense of appreciation of His grace.
Like for example, it took this woman being put into very difficult circumstances.
In order to receive these forgiveness.
Now if we go over to the 9th chapter of John.
We're not going to read this, this account. I'm going to like Bill said yesterday, I'm assuming that an understanding of this.
We have this man who was born blind from birth.
And the disciples asked him in verse 3.
In verse two and his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind.
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man nor his parents, but that the works.
Of God should be made manifest in Him.
As I mentioned before.
I'm going to apply it this way.
The government of God.
Was needful in this man's life to cause him.
To be born blind in order to work a work of God in him.
To bring him to see, to bring him to life, to bring him to be a worshiper.
You see?
We need God's governmental dealings to bring us down.
Oftentimes otherwise, we will not trust in His grace.
And these things go parallel.
God's governmental dealings are not to do us harm.
Or because necessarily we have done. That's true, oftentimes we do suffer from God governmental dealings, but here it's more God's governmental dealings in preparing a scene.
How many?
And that I meet in prison that tell stories.
00:45:00
Of how God had to bring them down, even to prison, before they would bow the knee and accept forgiveness on the basis of grace.
And So what happens?
You see, God is sovereign and He sees that need.
In our lives, young people, after we're Christians, sometimes we have to have governmental dealings too.
We lose the sense of what grace brings us, and we become wayward until God calls us up short.
And he calls us up short. He puts us into problems not because he wants to do us harm.
Not because he wants to make life miserable.
He wants us to come to the end of ourselves.
So we cast ourselves on his grace.
And then we become blessers and worshippers.
And those who appreciate His ways with us.
And so I like to look at these two stories then as examples of this.
The disciples couldn't figure out why a man could be born blind. They knew that.
Blindness was a governmental punishment or dealing of God upon his soul, and how could a man who was born in that condition have done some wrong to deserve that? Or could? Was it possible that children, because of the sins of their parents, inherit?
A judgment like that? Neither one makes sense.
God ways are bigger than that.
God's ways are over all.
He can see beforehand what's necessary.
And say he saw that in this case it was necessary and he wanted to work a work of grace. He wanted to bring this man as a witness to his power.
His saving power, and so he allows them to be borne blind.
Is it worth it to be borne blind to have this happen to you?
You think this man afterwards had, Lamentations said, Oh, I wish there hadn't been. God hadn't worked that way with my life, No.
But maybe in the interim, questions might be asked. Look at this poor man, his predicament he's in. Maybe right now you are in that kind of a predicament. You don't see the end of the story.
Look up fellow Christian, look to this man who's controlling all this.
He's got a plan, a blessing for you.
I've seen his plan in my life many, many times.
And I become a worshipper.
The more I consider it, and you will too. This man became a worshipper.
He was willing to be led and you read through the chapter.
It's amazing chapter of people stumbling over problems.
Unbelief, Unbelief.
That's the besetting sin that it talks about in Hebrews unbelief.
Look up.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It's a good thing.
The heart to be established with grace, and the governmental dealings of God go along parallel with that.
To cause us to lay hold of it.
May we thank Him, may it be encourage us to go on for the Lord.
You know, we're a small crowd here tonight, today.
Our assemblies go through problems.
And some of these were ongoing and we don't see the answers.
But I want to encourage our hearts with these two stories to as examples of what God is doing today with us here.
00:50:03
In our assemblies.
No matter where you are in the story, in a hard part or in a happy part, and it will be always be a mixture of the two.
That bring out the most praise and worship from our hearts.
We have to admit that if life would all smooth, never any problems, we would begin to coast, wouldn't we? We would lose our forever. We would lose our sense of love, we would lose our sense of dependence upon the Lord, and so on. We need these things.
May the Lord help us then.
In closing, I'd like to sing together hymn #9.
Father, we thy children, bless thee, for thy love on us bestowed.
Source of blessing we confess thee now, our Father and our God.
Father, we die.
John 18:28-40
Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Shall we continue on with John 18?
I would just make a suggestion and others can change it if they wish, but we talked quite a bit about Peter's failure and the Lord's interaction with him and with John and so on. I would suggest that we begin at verse 28 because that begins a different phase, bringing before us the Lord's appearing before Pilate and.
There is quite a bit in that section that I think we should spend some time on with that be all right.
Is that OK, Lemoyne?
Ask.
Then let the Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early, and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat. The Passover. Pilot then went out unto them, and said, What accusation?
Bring ye against this man, they answered, and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. Then set Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled.
00:05:14
Which he speak, signifying what death he should die. Then Pilate, enter into the judgment hall again, and call Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself?
Or did others tell what they of me? Pilate answered, Am IA Jew thine own nation, and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world.
If My Kingdom were of this world, then with my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my Kingdom not from hands? Pilot therefore said unto him, Art thou a king? Then Jesus answered, that thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate said unto him, What is truth? And then he said unto thee, And And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I found I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye therefore?
That I release unto you the king of the Jews. Then cried they all again saying, not this man, but perhaps now Barabbas was a rapper.
Well, this is a very solemn scene that we have before us here.
Up until this point, the Lord Jesus had appeared before the Jewish leaders.
And we see their utter hatred of him.
Their total commitment to getting rid of him, no matter what, means they had to go through in order to accomplish it.
But all of those things that had happened in the Lord's earthly ministry.
Were not lost on the Gentiles. They were very keen observers of what went on among the Jews, very keen observers of any little thing that might be a threat to Roman rule.
And we know.
From another scripture.
That Pilate knew very well that at the bottom.
Of the problem with the Jewish leaders was envy, one of the worst things in this world.
But here in the Lord's appearing before Pilate, we see.
If we could say it for the most part.
Your heart and mind is Gentiles brought into the picture.
So that it's not right for you and me, Not that we would necessarily do it as believers, but it's not right for the world as Gentiles to pin all the blame for the Lord's death on the Jewish nation. Because ultimately the Gentiles had the power to say yes or no.
And yet here we find core pilot caught admittedly between a rock and a hard place, caught between pacifying the Jews by crucifying an innocent man or risking a full scale riot and a lot of other things. And we find that political expediency carried the day. But it's a very solemn picture when we see the Lord standing before Pilate in his testimony there and as we are reminded later on.
In Paul's epistles he said Jesus Christ who before Pontius Pilate.
Witnessed a good confession. What a wonderful thing that was. The one who was condemned, the one who was the victim of every bit of injustice. The one who, as an innocent man, was being taken by those whose law and order was famous.
00:10:06
Suffered the most unjust trial that the world has ever seen, and yet he witnessed a good confession. What an example for you and me.
What exposes the heart of man?
That the cross, perhaps in a more clear way than we see it anywhere else in the Word of God.
And it's often been said that man is governed by his lusts and public opinion. And we see in each of those who are participating in what's taking place in this record were governed by their loss and public opinion.
The Jews as leaders, who had envy in their hearts, that was their lust.
Had an agenda and it didn't matter what or whom stood in the way their interest was accomplishing.
The getting rid of this man.
And so they have difficulty because it's an unjust thing that they're doing because they can't come up with a righteous basis for it. But it doesn't change anything.
The intent of the heart. We sometimes think that if man only understood this or that, he would change.
Well that's true if the matter is simply ignorance. But if the motivation of that persons heart is fixed on something, the truth doesn't really matter. They're going to go ahead as and push aside or push through.
To have what they want. And it's a solemn lesson for us because it exposes the human heart and if there's something in our hearts that we want, that we're going after.
We will tend, naturally to push aside anything that stands in the way of the accomplishment of that which is in US. And so it was with the Jewish leaders.
With Pilate, he has no.
True desire for justice.
He stood in the place of righteousness on the earth, but he wasn't governed by righteousness. That was his place of responsibility, but that wasn't what governed his behavior. He did what suited him and what suited the circumstances, Bill said. He was politically or he was motivated. He had a responsibility over these people and whatever work worked without regard to truth.
And so ultimately he goes along with the best way for him. Because when man is so governed, he's always controlled by his own desires. Not that.
Or in his own interests and not that of others.
Comment on that, we might remind ourselves that the world has not changed.
And if the world would crucify the Son of God?
It will do the same thing in principle today.
And so we are thankful that we live in lands where there is at least a measure of uprightness, a measure of recognition of right and wrong. But let's remember that men's hearts have not changed.
I can well remember not that many years ago when there was a difficulty in one of the provinces of Canada and there was a man who had a very legitimate problem with the government of one of those provinces.
00:15:01
And I was struck by the editorial in our local newspaper that reviewed the whole matter.
And to their credit, upheld the righteous claims of the individual.
But there was big money involved and if the government acted uprightly, it would end up, I may have the figure wrong, but I think it was the government was going to have to pay something like $30 million.
And the last comment in the editorial was rather revealing. It said the case will be decided by the courts.
But if it comes down to a question of dislodging for one individual $30 million of government money, it's not too hard to see which way the decision will go.
The world has not changed, and so you and I are living in an unrighteous world.
And we need to remember that and need to remember that as believers, we can't expect any better treatment ultimately than the Lord Jesus got.
Makes it more serious when you see the hypocrisy in the Jews here not going into the to the judgment hall. There's making a pretension to to holiness, to cleanliness, keeping the law while they were condemning the only innocent man that ever lived before them. And the Lord Jesus had pointed this hypocrisy out before to them.
And it continues here.
They wouldn't be defiled and go in the judgment hall.
They're preserving their own skin so they could carry on with their ritual.
While the very, very true Passover lamb was before them.
Willingly giving himself up to be a sacrifice for their sins.
I think Lemoyne Cotton recommended that enacts a good number of them later believed wonderful.
That the Lord, The Lord, in a sense, got the victory. He was willing to be defiled to liberate us from sin. They wouldn't defile themselves even going into the judgment hall.
Really. They were already defiled in their hearts, weren't they?
Because of their judgment of him.
What good is any any.
What good is any outward demonstration of not defiling yourself if the inside is corrupt?
Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.
Like you say, it's they are very careful about.
Procedural cleanliness at the same time.
To condemn the only righteous man there has ever been.
Difficult of man to.
Only really focus on the outward. The outward is important. The outward is very important, but in God's eyes it's never disassociated from what's inward. So it's been said, if the motive isn't right, the ACT isn't right. Even if the act in itself is a good thing, if the motive behind the ACT is wrong, it's sin.
So it says in Proverbs. The illustration of that truth, the plowing of the wicked is sin. The act of plowing is a necessary, important act in this world. It's a means whereby food gets produced. And so when you look at the act itself and you would say, who could ever condemn the act of plowing?
But God says the plowing of the wicked is sin, and the reason is the motive. The wicked does not plow his field with the proper reference to the one who truly owns the field, which is God. He leaves God out. He ignores God.
00:20:02
Pays no attention to God's claims and as such gods could say to him. That's my field. What are you plowing in my field for? Do you have my authority and permission to do that?
His interest is who are you? This is my field. He doesn't recognize God and as a as a consequence, it's sin. And so here you see people doing things that outwardly seem good, seem right as far as their procedure.
But.
They're evil.
Because the motive behind them is evil.
I'd like to relate a true story that happened many years ago when I was in the clothing business in Minneapolis and the owners of my store were Jewish and we had a lot of Jewish clientele. And this story was told to me about a Jewish man, a lawyer.
Must have been a convert, but here's what this Jewish lawyer said about this mock trial.
And the crucifixion of Christ, he said.
It was so unlawful, so unlawful.
And he says even today.
To put a man to death in Israel.
It takes five different trials.
To put him to death, they are so making sure that he is getting his rights.
Five. And then they finally put him to death if he's guilty. But the Lord Jesus didn't get even one real trial.
It was a trumped up case. So I thought that was, that's interesting. I, I told that story before, but it's a true story. This Jewish lawyer would defend.
What happened? You know he would come out against the law that that did this to the Lord Jesus.
It's unusual in our day to have somebody come forth like that, especially a Jew, but I believe he was a convert.
Been on trial a good part of the night and gone back and forth various times and they the only thing they could find against him was that he he said he was the Son of God and made himself God when he wasn't. That was the only way they could convict him.
Which is rather ludicrous.
But anyway, it's evident here when Pilate goes out to them and asks them what accusation they bring, They don't, they don't say that what they had come to the conclusion of here because no doubt it didn't carry what weight. And they just say if he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. They wanted him to accept their word online.
It's the same for both systems.
The religious system.
And the political system? They are both hypocritical and unrighteous.
Just as a side comment, important for us to recognize that sometimes systems are hypocritical.
But it does not separate us from submission.
We see the Lord Jesus here, faced with an unrighteous.
Trial.
But he submitted to it.
He recognized he put on their conscience their unrighteousness and Pilate in the course of it, He said, The ones that delivered me to you have the greater sin. In other words, you're sinning by what you're doing.
00:25:00
But he submitted to it. As God ordained government, He had the power not to submit in His person. Sometimes submission is only done when there's no power to resist. But the Lord had the power to resist, successfully resist. He could have struck them all dead with His power, but He submits to it in another instance.
With the religious system that was legitimate as far as having been of God up to that point in time, the Jewish system, he said to his disciples when they could see the hypocrisy of what was going on among those who administered the system, he said they sit in Moses seat.
In other words, they are in that place, in that system, and they were. The disciples were taught to submit to the recognized authority of that system at that point in time. He said to them, don't do as they do. Don't you be hypocritical and wrong in your behavior. But it's important to us because sometimes we're tempted to say.
I don't have to submit because what's going on isn't right.
Well.
We have to be careful in that there is an exception to it, and that exception is what we read of in the Acts where they were preaching and they're brought before the authority and the authorities say you're not allowed to preach.
And their response to that was, we ought to obey God rather than man. And so they did. They continued to preach because.
Men's authority, even though given of God, was in conflict to God's direct claims.
And instructions. And so they followed them. But I'll even take that one step farther if that be the case. And one must go on. The Scriptures also show us, even beyond that there was a submission to the consequences of being faithful to God, which did not include the use of power to the consequences. In other words, they were ready.
The disciples to pay the consequence of death for being faithful to God.
The Labor's position is always submission, isn't it? And I think that's helpful.
Civil disobedience is something that is taught today for Christians.
And it's not understanding properly where we stand. And I think if you go down to verse 36, it helps us to see our present position in this world. The Lord Jesus says to pilot, my Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews?
If his Kingdom were of this world, then it would be proper for him to for his servants to resist.
To fight that. But that's not the case. And that's the Kingdom we belong to, brethren. We recognize as supreme in authority a man who has been rejected in this world system. So our place is to go through.
Submitting as He submitted. And if it means suffering, then we have to suffer. And many of our brethren in many parts of the world are suffering today. But I think it is really sad to see that Christians in a large measure in this country where we have a lot of liberty, think that they have the right.
To civil disobedience. That is not a scriptural position for a believer in our times, and I think it was very helpful to see.
Our position verse 36 then, is kind of a key verse as to understanding what our position really is.
And in that sense?
00:30:00
Bob, I believe that verse really, shall we say, on the human side, gave Pilate a perfect excuse to release the Lord Jesus. He could not claim that I have to get rid of this man because he is a threat to Roman rule. He's uniting the Jews that are likely to raise a rebellion against Roman rule and therefore we have to get rid of him.
I am sure, and we know very well, it was the case that Pilate and the rest of the Romans kept a very close eye on everything that happened among the Jews, and they knew full well what the Lord Jesus had done for the whole time of His earthly ministry. But if there were any doubt in their minds about where the Lord Jesus stood, his rejection by the Jews put him clearly in this position where he could say, My Kingdom is not of this world.
So it magnifies the guilt of man because there was absolutely no excuse.
For Pilate to crucify the Lord Jesus, except, as we said a few minutes ago, political expediancy.
See in verse 34.
Lesson.
For ourselves.
But what takes place here? It says, Sayest thou this thee speaking the Lord's answering pilots question? Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus answered him. Thou sayest this thing of Sayest thou this thing of thyself? Or did others tell it thee of me?
It's natural to the human heart, when faced with a situation that we really don't like, to seek to avoid the responsibility of it.
And so we may make excuse, or we may try to raise some question that relieves us ourselves of the responsibility of facing the matter that is before us. And that's what Pilate would like to have done.
He didn't really want to have to go through this process, he would just as soon and in fact herod after he gets his chance, not recorded later.
Yes, Jesus came from his part of the country where he was a governor and ruled, and he's glad to see him. He's interested in him and he looks it over and does what he wants to do. But when it comes to the responsibility of a final decision?
He sends him back to Pilate, you know, he washes his hands of it because he doesn't want to face it either. And so he passes it on to somebody else. And so it is. It's the natural heart and it's our heart. Bob or Bill said that the human heart doesn't change. Well, neither does ours. We have human hearts. The way we live a Christian life is by a new life. But whenever the natural heart is given its place in us to do the decision.
Thinking and acting and so on. It works this way. We see ourselves in it. But the other side of it is God knows how to put people as he did here and us into situations where we can't avoid it, where we can't pass the buck of responsibility to someone else. And so it's put on before us in such a way that.
God says no, you have to deal with it, and Pilate had to deal with it. He couldn't get out of it in the end and he was and is responsible for what he chose.
Christ, this king of the Jews, of course.
He wrote to the next chapter, verse 19, and the writing was.
Is what Pilate put on the cross Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews?
Very, very curious.
Say Pilot was in a pretty rough situation.
00:35:01
But Jesus was the King of the Jews.
Or was he not?
Was he truly the king of those that that opposed him?
They were people that had rebelled. We have parables about that. The citizens rose up against him.
And.
What was he to do? He went into the far country. Think of Jesus going into the far country.
Was he the king of the Jews?
Or wasn't he?
Of course we say he is. Pilot says he is. The widest Pilot say that he is.
Well, the Jewish people didn't want that sign on the cross and pilot left it there. And I've had kind of the thought in my mind that that pilot has had enough to do with Israel and was basically saying, if this is what I can do to your kid.
Guess what I can do to you? I'm going to put you down. And we know of course, ultimately the Romans did put the Jewish people down in 8070 and then more finally in 8135 thereabouts when they completely expelled Jewish people out of that area by by legal mandate. Not a single Jewish person was a set foot in Palestine area after 8135.
Death. But this was the kind of power that that they they held. And so if Pilot was going to acknowledge Jesus as King of the Jews, he's going to use that as political means also.
In subjugating the Jewish people. And I don't think it was lost on the Jewish people either, the meaning of that sign on the cross and what Rome meant by it as well.
Looking at it from God's side, we see God overruled and made a public testimony as to who His son really was. So that's what got put up on the cross. But looking at it from Pilot side, appears to me that Pilot put it up there to cover him himself.
Lest unless he he had to have a legitimate reason to show the Romans why he did what he did. And so he put it up there.
Governor responsible, this Caesar.
And so they knew that they could be called to account by Caesar for any choices and actions they made in any country over which they govern. Violet was very well aware that whatever choice he made, he had to do it in such a way that if he was called to account by Caesar, he would look good.
And he would come out acceptable before Caesar. And so to say that this man was king of the Jews would cover him before Caesar's eyes and said, I, I put down somebody that of a of an area that.
Automatically the inference is was against our government.
But the important thing really is we may act in a way that satisfies some humans. It's superior if you will, but that does not set aside our responsibility before God or our behavior and our actions. We have to be careful. We may work in a job situation or even in a school situation where.
There's a temptation to act to satisfy the boss, even though the action would be unrighteous before God.
And.
God's claims always are supreme.
One of the wonderful things about reading a chapter like this is to see blended together.
The heart of man revealing itself against Jesus.
And the same time and place where God's love is blended together over ruling all.
00:40:01
To do what God purposes and concerning sin and his son being a sacrifice for it and so you see both blended together here in this account this story I I was going to call attention to it in the 32nd verse that we kind of passed over briefly but the reason that God allowed that the Jews give up Jesus to the Romans for crucifixion was so that.
He could be lifted up like the serpent of brass on the pole, an object of faith. That's God's side of it. That's why God allowed at least one reason why God allowed him to be delivered over to the Romans. He could have overruled that.
And so in all these, on all these.
Little details where we see how Pilate was manipulated and moved and how he acted and how the the Sanhedrin and the Jews worked.
Worked together and all being under Satans power no doubt. But even all over all of that is God allowing happen what happened and that's how great our God is.
That's how complex his program can be and for our good and blessing in giving the Lord Jesus to go through all of this. But it takes the eye of faith to see that side of it, how God is working here and His side of it.
Identified on that just a bit, turn to Romans Chapter 11.
He's referring here in Romans 11 and these verses to the fact of God's goodness to the Gentile.
In view of the behavior of the Jew, and so in Romans Chapter 11.
Verse 28 it says as concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching election they are beloved for the Father's sake, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, for as ye and times past have not believed God.
Yet now have obtained mercy through their unbelief, Even so have these also not now not believe that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. God so overruled in what was happening, that in the results at the cross it could justly and righteously be said.
The whole world was guilty before God. There was not an opportunity when it was over for the Gentile to say we're not guilty. We had nothing to do with the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all the problem of the Jews. We're okay people.
Likewise, when it was all said and done, the Jew couldn't righteously say before God and we had nothing to do with the death of the Lord Jesus. That was done by the Gentile. It was all his fault. We were good.
No, God overruled in his love. He knew the heart of all men, and all men were guilty, and so He exposes the guilt of all mankind.
In the death of the Lord Jesus, that in his love he could show mercy to everyone.
As proven in need of that mercy and have no one on the face of the earth be able to righteously say we are a class of people that had nothing to do with it. It's not our fault, we're good.
And when Paul sees that what he says here, notice the next verses in the context in these verses that we often read. He says verse 33 of Romans 11, all the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, God's wisdom and knowledge and how he overruled in all the processes that take place that we're reading about this morning.
He marvels at it.
Paul looks at it, he thinks about it and he marvels. And he said, oh, the riches of the wisdom.
00:45:03
And knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out he sees how God would had worked it out. And he said he had no human counselor. There was no one that was advising him how to manage the affairs of the universe.
He says, who verse who hath known the mind of the Lord, who hath been his counselor, or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? And then he gives us the end result. And it's something we need to remember, no matter whether we understand what's happening in our life at this moment or that, and many times we do not.
Generally, or I should say often when we're passing through a difficult period and of our lives, we don't know, we don't understand what God is doing very well. And yet Paul looks at this and he says for of him that is of God and through him and to him are all things. He says it with a Worshipful heart. God's totally in control and he's perfect in his love.
He's perfect in all that he does, in all his ways, and when we get through it and look back at it, it says, the heart says, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Just going back for a moment to the comment that was made about.
Man in the person of Pilate here, but ultimately every man.
Trying to manipulate events and trying to extricate himself from difficult situations.
That has been and still is the history of man's heart in this world.
And the moment that I start looking after my own interests, as Dawn was saying, and have before me what I want to do.
Light becomes very complicated.
Because if I am going to do one thing, if I am going to manipulate one thing in order to gain my own ends, I will find that there are a dozen other things that are.
Hooked into that manipulation that also have to be dealt with.
But how beautiful and how simple.
We see the Lord Jesus Christ in all of this. What was before him. He'd already been through it with the Father. He'd already been through it in the Garden of Gethsemane. And we read it in the 12Th of this very book.
Where he says, What shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I under this hour. And then four short words answer it, Father, glorify thy name.
And from that point on, and of course it was true throughout the Lord's life, but very specially in this situation.
What was before Him was simply what would glorify the Father's name.
Were there serious consequences in that path? Indeed there were. Indeed there were. The Lord well knew what it would entail. But in that sense?
Life was simple, decisions were simple, the path was clear and it was not difficult to discern that path and as a result, we find here that.
And it's mentioned in the next chapter.
That it was Pilot that was afraid, not the Lord Jesus. And when you and I act in our own interests and when we try and manipulate things in our own way, it brings fear because.
If we could say it this way, fear in our hearts.
Is ultimately in many cases, maybe not always, but in many cases, it's a product of what is unjudged in our own hearts. And we find it in more than one case in the Word of God, where there was fear. Fear, why? Because of what was in the heart of the individual. But when the heart was clear, when there had been a thorough judging of anything that was contrary to the mind of God.
00:50:02
Then we find, I believe the expression in first John 4, perfect love cast without fear and refine. The Lord Jesus walked in the perfect sense of that love, and so there was No Fear, even though He, as it were, was the prisoner, He was the victim, He was the one on trial, and pilot from the human side had the power at his disposal that the Lord is able to remind him where that power comes from.
And to whom he X and under whose authority he exercised, and its pilot that's afraid. It's been a lesson, I say to my own soul, in the way that we react to circumstances that we meet up with in this world.
In that connection, I think it would be nice to read the words in Hebrews 2 about the Lord Jesus.
Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14 and 15.
For as much then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he, that is Christ also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******. We see the Lord Jesus in this chapter.
Not intimidated by the fear of death at all.
Been suggested he he had already with the father gone through the ordeal and accepted it in submission. And so he is confident and he goes forth. He's not manipulated. They're controlled in any way by anybody other than his father and so the others are not. We see Pilot here. He's manipulated. He's under Satan's control.
Because he's afraid to die and he doesn't want to die. He's not prepared for it. That's the ultimate power that Satan has. It may not always be death that Satan uses to entice us, but that's the ultimate power that he has. And so the Lord Jesus, in this act of submission, he's delivering men from the power of death, and he's opening up a new Kingdom.
Heavenly Kingdom.
I don't know. I, Bob, you said something about that earlier. I think we ought to have a little bit more about that Kingdom.
Well, we know that the whole.
Christian position is a heavenly 1, isn't it? We are called to heavenly blessing. We are not of this world it says in John 17. The Lord says a number of times and.
Everything in connection with the Church, its blessing is heavenly blessing. Our position, our present position is heavenly. Our destiny is heaven, and we are looked at in this world as pilgrims and strangers.
Who were passing through a world that we do not belong to. And so as we pass through, we respect the laws that are in existence.
And obey as far as we possibly can.
In the measure that we do not disobey God, and if it comes to disobeying a command that's given to us because of obedience to God, it's not in rebellion, it's because of submission to God that we take the stand that we do, then we have to suffer.
But I think that is important, and I think this is what has been lost sight of in the Christian world today is that we are called to heavenly blessing. And it's so important to keep that in focus. We are we. There's been a loss of the enjoyment of that scene of heavenly blessing that we have been called to. So the Lord is introducing that here, really, isn't He?
Says I don't really expect justice down here.
I If I were going to establish something here at this time, then my servants would fight.
Remember when I was taking the conscience objectors position in connection with military service? This is a verse I used in speaking to authorities and one of the men that was examining me said What have everybody believed like you did?
00:55:20
I say we wouldn't stand, would we? No, we wouldn't.
Not down here in this world. But we're not looking to stand down here in this world as a political force to be reckoned with. We are called to another sphere of blessing, heavenly blessing.
Another thing I think.
It's good to say in connection with what you were saying, Bill, about the simplicity of the Lord's position.
And in verse 37 he speaks that everyone it says to this end was I born, and for this cause came into the world, that I should bear witness.
Unto the truth.
Everyone that is of the truth hear my voice. The truth is simple, isn't it?
But when you're not willing to accept the truth in simplicity, what's the opposite of truth? Lies. You start telling lies. You're going to have to be pretty good at covering your lies. You're going to have to tell other lies to cover them. You said you're going to have to take a dozen other options to manipulate. I suggest those other dozen is going to lead to hundreds of other.
Complicated way of living the truth is simple.
The truth liberates, I think of that woman.
In the fourth of John the Samaritan woman.
Who? When she met with the Lord and requested that living water, he said to her, Go call your husband, come here.
She said I don't have a husband.
That was kind of 1/2 truth, I guess you'd say.
But she was covering up something.
And the Lord said to her, to me, This is so wonderful, brother, how what he said to her did not drive her away, it drew her. She said, thou hast had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. That sits thou truly.
And what does she do? She was a woman.
That was trying to cover up her life. If you try to cover up things in life, your life is extremely complicated.
But when it got out into the light, she went right back into that city and said to the men of the city, maybe some of the ones she'd send with said, Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Oh brethren, in that beautiful to see how the truth liberates, and so everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Oh, what a searching thing it is to our own souls, brethren, as we walk through this world.
The truth.
It's singular, it's all centered in the person.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, sometimes we refer to the physician.
We seek to occupy us, gather the Lord's name as the truth of gathering. But I like to say, brother, and if we're going to talk about the truth.
In its objective purity, it's Christ.
His glorious person and the truth of His precious Word.
Because he says.
Thy word is truth, says in first John 5. The Spirit is the truth. Those are objective.
01:00:03
Realities. The truth is what is.
Lies is something that.
Contradicts.
The truth.
We can talk about sometimes the truth in US.
John in 3rd John the Apostle John speaks about yes and the truth that is in thee, but that is true.
In subjective reality, and sometimes there might be something in me that corresponds to the truth. But brethren, let's not make ourselves the focus when we talk about the truth.
In its objective reality, it's Christ, his person and the Word of God. Oh, how important to be clear about that. Should there be truth in my life? Yes, there should. Is there always? Sorry, I can't say there always is.
There's sometimes other things that come into the picture, that's why we should not make ourselves a reference point. But here.
In this portion we have the Lord Jesus.
And before Pilate?
And I like to think of it, Pilate was the judge supposedly speaking, and what was he doing? He was judging the truth. And in condemning the truth, he condemned himself and the whole world system that he was a part of.
What a story, what a picture.
Important, isn't it? To see here how that pilot from his side was trying to do what Don referred to a little while ago. He was focusing on what would give him a political excuse.
To do away with the Lord Jesus, Art thou a king? Then raises that question.
And the Lord Jesus answers the question.
Thou sayest that I am a king. What you say is true, yes, but he doesn't stop there.
He reaches his conscience.
And what an important thing that is.
Pilot wanted an excuse to crucify the Lord Jesus.
The Lord, as it were, takes the spotlight.
Turns it in the other direction, as it were, says Pilate.
Rather than focusing on what I am as to a king.
There is something far more important that you need to deal with.
I'm the witness to the truth.
And everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.
Well, it's a real voice to our hearts, isn't it, when we meet the opposition of the world?
Yes, it's good to be upright. It's good to be honest. It's good to answer their questions.
But how much more important to reach the state of soul behind the question, to reach the conscience?
At this point, Pilot is finished. What is truth? And then he leaves.
Here's nothing more to say. He doesn't want to face that. He doesn't want to go into that. He doesn't want to go down that road.
But his conscience was reached, wasn't it?
Is putting something on Pilot very personal and very unavoidable to his own conscience? And that is he's saying the Lord, he's asked, the pilot asked, Lord, are you a king? And the Lord acknowledges, yes, I am. What was the job of a king? To administer truth, to maintain truth. And so that was pilot's job. That was what pilot was here faced with.
Was he going to administer the truth in this matter, or was he not the Lord Jesus says to Pilate.
The eyewitness to the truth and anyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
And so Pilate's response is what is truth? It's a very fundamental issue of everybody's life, really, because we all live and we're constantly faced with the question, what's truth about this matter? What's truth about that matter? What's truth about something else? And the Lord is answering it for Pilate and for us. Because if I say what is truth?
01:05:08
And start with myself.
I'm going to end up wrong.
If I think I am competent in myself as a judge of truth apart from God, I'm going to come out wrong because everything in me is relative to everything else naturally. And man constantly gets the truth wrong because man of the world leaves God out. But the Lord Jesus Christ is the source for man to know what truth is.
We have to go to the Word of God, and there we learn to our souls what truth is.
Don't start with yourself.
If you do, you're going to come out wrong. You'll spend a whole lifetime wondering what's true and what's true. But the Lord Jesus was the perfect expression of it. And if Pilate wanted to know what it was?
The Lord says, look at me and what I say. If we want to know what truth is and live by truth, we need to listen to God. We don't judge it, we don't evaluate it. We don't say, well, God said this, is that true or not? Is that the truth or not? No, we accept it. Our consciences are so made to accept it that what God says, let God be true.
And every man a liar. Let us always and ever have in our hearts that truth. Let God be true. And every man a liar. We are not the reference point of truth. Our minds are not the judges of truth and before God.
We are the recipients of truth from God and if there's not unbelief in us, we can walk in the truth. But the moment unbelief comes, we are open to accept the lie. Don't have time, but if you go back to Adam and Eve story.
You see how the lie came in to take the place of truth when man and the source of accepting what's false is unbelief in God.
Absolute and I think what you said, Don, that we are relative and so we cannot start with ourselves. If we're going to come to a solid conclusion, we must start with something absolute and that's where we have to have the Lord Jesus. He is, I am the way the truth.
And the life, oh, the blessedness of getting that firmly fixed in our souls. We live in a culture, brother, and I see that young people are often lost as to where they are in their own thinking because they start with themselves and they're thinking.
And you won't get clarity until you start with the Lord Jesus.
Poor Pilate, how twisted he was in his evaluation is evident in the next chapter. He takes Jesus in the first verse and scourges him. And then notice what he says in verse 4. Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him.
That's the way you treat somebody that has no fault. You scourge him.
Twisted. Completely twisted. Lord help us.
To keep the truth before our souls, the glorious Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hymn 22 in the appendix. Hymn #22 in the back of the book.
The Holy One.
4.
Oh.
01:10:04
Oh, oh God.
Oh.
Read a verse in 2nd Thessalonians 2.
2nd Thessalonians 2 and verse 13.
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
For until he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord.
Jesus Christ.
John.
Chapter 2.
Verse 21.
I have not written unto you, because ye know not the truth.
But because you know it.
No lie is of the truth.
Gospel
Gospel—Bruce Imbeau
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
The format of the meeting is going to be just a little bit different than, shall we say, the standard format.
I'm going to give 2.
Gospel Messages.
As an introduction which will take a good part of the meeting.
And then we will spend a little bit of time and just so no one gets lost here, the first part will be about the love of God.
And Part B will be or the second opening will be the wrath of God.
And then there will be a section where we'll talk about.
The reconciliation, if you wish to use that word, and hopefully by the time we're done, you won't use that word between those two thoughts.
And then if the Lord allows.
Time at the end, I'd like to talk a little bit about Judas.
It's kind of impressed by some things that were said yesterday.
So welcome to the Gospel meeting. I'd like to begin this evening by singing hymn number 7 and just the 1St 2 verses. Someone can start that place.
Our God and our Father, we just.
There is a God.
And I assume that there's no one in this room that challenges or doubts that.
Even a little bit.
There is a creator.
There is a maker of all of us.
To whom we are responsible.
And that one who is of such great and mighty power.
To be able to reach into this world and to create you with a mind.
That's able to think.
And to consider and to plan.
That that one loves you.
Let's turn to a verse in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah.
It's a pretty well known verse Jeremiah.
Chapter 31.
00:05:00
And verse 3.
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yeah.
I have loved thee.
With an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.
There is one thing that the human psyche demands.
It's a necessity.
And that is to be loved.
You cannot properly live out a life in a normal way.
Without the understanding that you are loved.
Because of that tremendous draw.
That is built into us.
We will sometimes seek love in some odd and wrong places.
And yet the human.
Soul the human being seeks after that craves it.
Craves for understanding and love.
And there is someone who loves you.
And that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, who came down from heaven to show you his love to you personally.
And even before he came back here in the Old Testament times, we read plenty about love.
And we find that God himself is that source, and He's the one.
That loves you.
And he has an interest in drawing you with loving kindness. Have I drawn thee, you see?
Not only does God love us.
But he.
Expects. He expects.
To have a personal relationship with us.
To know us by name.
To know are sitting down and are rising up.
To know what makes us tick.
That's the God.
Who is the Creator?
And the sustainer of everything that is out there.
And you say no, no, no.
If he created this huge universe and I know how big it is, it is really, really big.
And this earth is really, really small. Like you wouldn't believe how small it is.
And I only stand about 5 1/2 feet tall.
Maybe 6 feet tall?
And you think that a creator that made this huge universe would exactly care?
About this little BLOB of matter crawling around on planet Earth.
Yes he does, and that is the story of the gospel, the love of God, and that he seeks us out and he cares about us and He wants you to know who he is.
I have loved, saith the Lord.
Very well known verse in the New Testament.
We don't even need to hardly turn to it, do we? John 316 for God.
So loved the world.
He says that the created world. No, it's you. You make up this world. You are the heartthrob of it. You are the vitality of this planet Earth. It's the human beings.
God so loved the world that he gave.
His only begotten Son.
00:10:08
God does not extract from us.
God gives to us.
Love gives.
Love gives.
And God has shown the way that He gave first and foremost himself, his very Son.
To us He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish.
But have everlasting life.
He's not willing that any should perish.
And you say, what do you mean perish?
I'm going to die and justice like the lizard that crawls across my front porch occasionally.
It's going to get squashed somewhere because part of the dust has turned into grass and trees sooner or later, and that's just like me.
No, no, no.
God loves you too much to give that an existence like that to you.
He's given you a life that goes on and on, and in that life that goes on and on, He does not want you to perish.
He does not want you to pass from this life into a sinner's hell. He does not want that because that's where we're headed. We are because we've sinned against our Creator. We've sinned against our God.
And he loves us too much.
To let that happen after putting us on this planet Earth.
And so he gave his son.
That we might have an opportunity to believe in him.
Not just to believe that existed. Oh yes, there was a Jesus. He lived something, you know, a couple thousand years ago. I don't know, probably somewhere over in. Where did he live anyway? I don't know. I know about him, though.
No, to believe in him.
To know that He came to this world for a purpose, and that purpose was to show God's love to you, to bring you out of darkness into light, to bring you from death into life.
That you should not perish, but have everlasting life.
And that is?
What God wants for you.
Because he loves you.
Let's turn over a few pages to a book called Romans, Romans chapter 5 and verse 6.
Romans 5 and verse six. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
God gave his Son to die for us.
And you say that's unreal. And yes, that's discussed in the next verse. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die.
I'm not going to give my life for somebody just because, you know, I think they're kind of righteous. And for a Goodman, some would even.
Get her adventure for a good man. Some would even dare to die.
You know, there are some people.
That are actually trained to die for someone else.
And you can think of the Secret Service as service of the United States of America and their protection of the president and of other people.
And they are trained to put themselves purposely in harm's way to catch bullets if needs be.
And that is, catch bullets in their own person, so that the life of the other is preserved.
This is not an unknown sentiment among humans.
That one would give his life for someone else.
And there's other stories of amazing love.
Just at the human level.
Or a mother has given her life child.
00:15:03
There's plenty of those kinds of stories.
But God.
Commends his love toward us in verse eight, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God commends his love toward us.
Can you imagine?
The sinless, perfect Son of God.
Being a substitute for people who have rebelled against God.
Impossible, you might say.
And very reasonably so.
But it's not impossible because it's true, because Christ came in your stead to bring you.
Back to God.
I.
Let's turn to Two Corinthians chapter 8.
And this does not necessarily talk about.
Love but.
It's pretty obvious. Second Corinthians chapter 8 verse nine. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich.
He's God, of course he's rich. Everything belongs to him.
Yet for your sakes, he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be rich.
How did he become poor?
Just because he was born behind a stable and lived a life without money in his pocket.
Is that really what this means? He is the Son of God. He became a person. What an.
Insult.
Yeah.
What is it meaning?
To take on a character like us who have lifted up our fists against God.
And beside that to go into death, death which is the result of sin.
How far down could anyone go?
But to go there, and especially for Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The Christ of God.
For your sakes, He became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. He wants to give you the eternal heavens as a home with God the Father.
And that's what he came to do.
He came to give life where there was nothing but death and decay and things falling apart.
We don't need much to tell us that things are falling apart in this world.
Diseases.
You know, death is all around us.
We hear about it. We pray for bereaved families.
But He's come to give us eternal life. Why? Because He loves us.
Because he loves us.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man should lay down his life.
For his friends.
And then the Lord adds and says, You are my friends.
Are you saved yet?
You've heard about the love of God.
You've all sat here very politely and listened.
And you know now that there is a God who loves you.
00:20:09
Let's turn to the other section of our meeting, and we'll begin that by singing.
Hymn #35.
I think yes 35 and again the 1St 2 verses and if someone can start that place.
Turn with me, please, to the book of Job.
Job Chapter 36.
And verse 18.
Because there is wrath, beware.
Lest he take thee away with his stroke, and a great ransom cannot.
Deliver thee.
Turn with me to the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 13.
And verse 9.
If you feel so inclined, just listen rather than turning to some of these. That's just fine.
Isaiah 13 and verse 9. Behold.
The day of the Lord cometh.
Cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof.
Out of it.
There is a God who created this place.
He made a wonderful world.
With blue sky.
And blue-green oceans.
Trees.
Animals.
A place that God himself said it's good. It's good.
00:25:05
And he put humankind into this world.
And it wasn't very long before.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve.
Had sinned against their Creator.
And God to give them warning.
In the day that thou shalt eat of that fruit pointed out to them.
Shall die.
Shall die.
Adam and Eve, they disobeyed.
Any disobedience of any sort against the creator God is called sin.
Don't be calling me bad names, you know I'm not a Sinner.
Well, have you ever done something that is against what God would like you to do?
Go. Well, I don't think in those terms.
I think about what I want to do.
And as long as I'm true to my own star, and as long as I'm consistent and I give some cure to my neighbors.
Then don't talk to me about sin.
But you know, that doesn't change what the creator said.
So let's turn to Ezekiel.
Well, let's don't turn to Ezekiel yet. There is a couple more verses in Isaiah.
One more verse matter of fact. Isaiah 33.
Because I don't suppose that we are the 1St generation to think of talking back to God.
And helping him, you know, redefine some of these rather narrow definitions of sin.
Isaiah 33, verse 4.
The sinners. Excuse me, verse 14.
The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting?
Burnings.
Someone sounds pretty serious here.
Could it be God? That sounds kind of serious.
Could be.
Another book a little bit later on. It's called Ezekiel.
And in Ezekiel chapter 18.
The very first verse says, The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying.
Now that's the Lord, that's the Lord God of heaven and earth. That's the Jehovah, the everlasting 1.
And he says this in verse 4. All Souls are mine.
You go, that's not fair. I'm my own person, you know?
Hands off y'all, I'm for me.
But God says All Souls are mine as the soul of the Father, so also the soul of the Son is mine, the soul that Sinner.
It shall die.
Verse 20.
The first part of verse 20. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
00:30:02
And at the end of the chapter.
Verse 31 of Ezekiel 18.
Castaway from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will ye die?
O House of Israel.
The.
God is not.
Pleased with the death of the wicked.
Why will you die?
Mm-hmm.
But there is wrath.
God is very very clear in many verses in his Bible.
That says ultimately, that the soul that sins it shall die.
And he goes on to say, And after death.
The judgment.
After death, the judgment.
You know that we have an urge to live, You know that.
We have an urge to support life. You know that there's something in us that drives us. Someone gets hurt, we run to them, we put an arm around them, we talk to them.
If you're taught to give CPR, Annie Annie, are you OK?
That's our natural urge.
It's to preserve life. We fight for it.
We even speak of people at the end of their lives. They were fighting for their breath.
They were fighting for their life. We used those kinds of words because it expresses.
What are inside emotion is it's something that's worthwhile.
God says why have you put yourselves in a position to die?
Don't turn your back on me because there's going to be judgment.
So the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of his ministry in the New Testament.
It's found in a couple different places, but.
In Matthew chapter 3.
Matthew chapter 3 and verse 7. Lord Jesus Christ to come into this world.
He was the maker of it, but he came into it.
Don't think for a minute that nature and so forth.
It's just a part of God, and you can find God in nature.
No.
God is God. He created something that was outside of himself, called this universe. He exists outside of time, outside of location and position. He exists outside of that, otherwise he would not be God.
I hope that makes some sense.
But he is God.
And by choice, he came into his creation.
And the Lord Jesus Christ walked in this world. He came.
To give warning of what?
In verse seven. And when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of Vipers, who hath warned you?
To flee from the wrath to come.
Do you believe that?
Well, you know, our governments believe in something like this.
They'll get together a legislature or a king or somebody, and they'll say now these are the laws.
And if you cross the boundary and you do what is not appropriate under the laws of this empire or this land or this country, then guess what?
00:35:15
You're going to be punished for that.
And I go.
No, that's not fair. You don't understand. And they go, we understand it very well.
Come this way please.
And so we understand what governments do, and somehow we don't seem to understand what God does.
Because he has laws also.
And he says, Thou shalt, and thou shalt not.
And if we ignore that, well then guess what?
The soul that sinneth it shall die.
And in Revelation chapter 20.
It says this in verse 11 of Revelation chapter 20, the very last book of the Bible.
Says I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there isn't found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great.
What do you mean dead?
You mean you don't just die and turn into dust somewhere and disappear?
While if you're a person like Walt Whitman or something, you talk about leaves of grass and how dead bodies decompose and they just become grass and trees and other fine living thing.
Oh no.
None.
You die to this world.
That you have an everlasting soul. Remember, you are designed by the Maker of the universe and He has given you a life that goes on forever, your soul and your spirit.
So he can see the dead, and they stand before God. No, not God.
That's the person I didn't like.
The books were opened.
Oh, no, not books. You mean somebody was keeping track? You mean someone was watching?
Another book was opened.
Which is the book of life from the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. See gave up the dead which were in it. Death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. Death and Hell were cast in the Lake of fire. This is the second death. Whosoever was not found written in the book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.
And indeed.
There is a hell.
There is a.
There is punishment for sin.
There are consequences to what we do.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, he came into this world.
And he came.
Says make sin for us.
He stood in our place and he said, I know that you are in trouble at the hand of an almighty God that can show his wrath, and I will stand in the gap and I will take the place. I will die for your sin.
And for your sins.
For what makes up your very nature as well as what you've actually done.
The Lord Jesus Christ said I will take that on myself.
And these sinners that stand in danger of the wrath of God.
00:40:03
They can be saved and brought out of death and into an eternal life.
Do you believe that?
Do you believe that God created?
Do you believe that you are set here by God? And most of all, do you believe that you have sinned against an almighty God?
Do you believe that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners?
Are you saved yet?
Are you saved yet?
Do you find yourself in danger?
Of eternal burnings.
And you've gone to someone for rescue.
Have you done it?
The Lord Jesus Christ died for you. The justice.
For the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
Take it.
It's yours.
And so we've had two introductions to a gospel meeting.
God of love.
It has given to us a gift.
And a God that can show wrath.
But he has given us a way to be rescued.
You go. Well, that's nice.
But you know what?
I just believe in God, love.
It kind of fits my personality and you know, I'm not going to think about anything else. I just know that there's a God out there somewhere and he loves me.
Or on the other hand.
You might go oh.
I understand wrath.
I've seen thee.
Thunder.
I've seen a volcano. I've been in big earthquakes.
I've seen pictures of what happens in natural destruction.
Oh yeah.
I can understand this wrath stuff.
And I suppose they all deserved it.
And you know, come to think of it, probably I do too.
So maybe it makes me a little down.
But you know what? I'm a realist.
And I'm pretty sure if there is a God that. Yeah.
He's probably out to get us.
It's not a trivial compare. It's not a trivial question, I guess.
I should say it is not a trivial question to ask.
Is God a God of love or is God a God of wrath?
Take your pick. Let's pick for right now, God of love.
And so you feel very comfortable in this one who is just going to shower you with love.
And you're going to pass away sweetly and you're going to go live with the angels and.
So forth.
But somewhere lurking in the back of your mind is the possibility that there might be this other God.
Boy, would I be in trouble if there's such a thing as sin and offense against God.
00:45:07
If you just believe in a God of love, you're really not going to be happy.
Because of tremendous uncertainty.
Because what if that Bible thumping guy was right?
Oh dear.
Now let's go to the other side.
Well, I believe in a God of wrath and.
And maybe this is a bit primitive, but these were my ancestors did not some people that are still in this world.
That God needs to be appeased.
And so.
I'm going to bring this God of sacrifice.
But an animal isn't quite good enough. There has to be something that's close to me, like a person.
And that should do the trick.
If you think human sacrifices.
Are no longer in existence in this world. You're wrong because there are still people.
That will do that to appease this God of wrath.
You will not be happy.
If you have some sort of thought like that.
And that does pass through the human mind on a pretty regular basis, I think.
Otherwise we wouldn't have such a long history of people trying to appease the gods.
But it so happens that there is a God.
Who cannot have sin in his presence?
Sin must be judged. OK, but that same God is the God who is love.
And you go, this is not making sense. Do we have?
You know, kind of a bipolar situation.
Not in the medical sense, but.
What gives? How can you have this?
So we're going to ask, who is God?
How do you perceive God?
God presents himself as love.
And we had that mentioned this afternoon. God is love. He presents himself as light. God is light. God presents himself as.
Having Grace.
And he presents himself as having truth.
And here is a very very simple thing to think about.
You have all heard the gospel before. You've all heard those four words before. Grace and truth and light and love.
And so for just a second.
Light.
You know the wonder of God's light has shined on our consciences.
That we can even give any thought about God.
Light gives us warmth.
It's fuzzy, warm. We want light.
Some people have this, I forget the exact name, but it's middle of the winter depression because the days are so much shorter. We need that light and God is a provider of light. It's for our good and our blessing.
But if you refuse that light, if you refuse the warmth of the person, of the Son of God, then you have denied to yourself that light.
And you will be without that light forever.
00:50:05
God is love. We all know about love. We can't live without it.
But if you reject the love of God, you have again denied to yourself that love, and you will live without love forever.
Grace, the grace of God.
That is manifest in this world and the giving of the Son of God.
If you turn your back on that grace, you have chosen for yourself not to have the grace of God, and you will live without that grace forever.
And truth.
The truth is that God loves you.
He sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die for you.
He is a substitute on your behalf.
You think that's just a fable?
You think it's just a myth. It's the truth.
Don't turn your back on the truth of God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, His own Son, who He gave to stand in your place, in my place for our eternal good. Don't turn your back on it.
Or else you'll live forever.
Having denied yourself.
That truth?
And you'll live forever without.
Bad truth.
Why do you perish? The Bible asks. There's no reason.
God has spoken to us. He is a provider.
Humble yourself.
Knockout that pride that says I'm my own person, I'm going to fight for it and don't tell me what to do or what someone else can do for me. No, no, no, relax a bit.
Step back and accept Jesus Christ.
The Son of God and creator of your world. Accept Him.
As your safety.
There is one God.
Not 2.
One God. There's one God and one mediator.
Between God.
And man.
The Man Christ Jesus.
One God. Keep that in your mind.
One God and that one that is full of love.
Has sent his son to stand in the breach.
To fill up the gap, to be a bridge to bring us.
Took off.
You may have heard the word propitiation.
It's a long word and you know.
It's probably a fairly simple word though.
It means that the Lord Jesus Christ.
Has made a platform.
Where you and God?
Can meet.
That's what it is.
Where you and God can meet, and that is salvation.
God is for you. He wants you as His child, eternally in His home.
I wanted to make a couple comments about Judas. He's quite an interesting character in the scriptures.
Because he denied the Lord Jesus.
00:55:01
He.
Was a traitor to the very Son of God.
And you know.
Was he a bad person now? I mean as a friend?
You know, I don't mean did he end up in hell because he did, because he was bad, but but as far as a human goodness kind of person, would you have maybe had him as a friend? And the answer is yes, you probably would have. He was a nice guy.
We assume the other disciples thought he was. They were so surprised when they found out that Judas had done this.
Very strange thing of betraying Christ.
Was he a believer?
Well, no, He was not in what we think of as an eternal kind of thing. He did not have eternal salvation, did not accept Christ as a Redeemer and someone who could take care of his sins. But he was a believer in this way.
He saw what Christ could do.
And.
He was willing to to go along with that. You say, well, was he looking forward to the future? Yes, I'm sure he was looking forward to the Kingdom because he just knew there would be more of the same. And here was the one who could provide food.
One who healed the sick. I mean, yes, in that sense, Judas was a believer.
Not for his soul's good, but just.
You know, he knew that Christ could really was the Christ. He had nothing against Christ. He was for him and he would properly have rooted for him if there was some opposition.
He was a thief.
I've wondered about that. Oh, I've wondered about that.
That was his character.
He carried the bag. They just had a a purse that they must have gotten some sort of donations from people. I don't know how that worked, but but he stole from it for his own Piggy Bank.
And you know, no one noticed.
Yeah, certainly. You'd think somewhere in three years that someone would have said, well, I thought we had 20 shekels in there, you know.
I'm going to pose something. I may be way wrong and probably am, but but think about it. Judas had lots of reason to in a sense, trust Christ.
That money never appeared to be missing, perhaps.
The Lord could get a coin out of fish's mouth. He could certainly put coins in that purse and make up for Judas's.
Thievery.
And he was looking forward to the day when he would sit with Christ in this Kingdom and think of all the things that would have been provided to him.
But he was a thief.
He was covetous.
And so the time came towards the end of the Lord's life, and there was this opportunity to betray the Lord and to sneakily go behind the scenes and to, to, to tell the, the, the, the, the leaders of the country there where Jesus was.
Did Judas actually expect?
He had seen Jesus escaped before. He knew Jesus miracles. He just thought it was a quick 30 pieces of silver and Jesus was just going to sneak around and get out.
And everything would be fine. He got his pocket full of some more money and life would just go on.
So in that sense, he really knew what Christ could do. Is that amazing?
I don't know your heart tonight.
Do you like the benefits of Christianity?
Do you?
A lot of people do.
Do you like the camaraderie? Do you like the young people's times?
Do you really believe that God is a provider? You know he's given us a nice life, good family. You'll provide a husband or wife for me someday. That's nice.
01:00:13
Are you a thief?
Are you just stealing because it makes you feel good?
All these things about Christianity, what Christ can do.
You like the benefits?
You like the show of power?
You like these things?
But are you just a thief?
Are you just a Judas?
Don't be.
He lost his life eternally.
And so will you.
Submission
Whom I Have Believed
Prayer
Is Your Name in God's Book of Life?
Children—David So
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Well, good morning.
You wear more little ones that would like to sit up front.
You know, well, perhaps we can begin the Sunday school with a hymn.
Anyone has one they would like to start with?
I see Amber with a hand up first.
OK, Emma, what number?
The VIVLE.
Now what number is that? That should be here, isn't it?
What is it in the sheet?
I suppose we can sing that at least the first verse, the VIBLE Islam.
Well, that's nice.
Now before we start, let's look to the Lord for help 1St and we bow our heads. All right? Anyone else? I saw hands up here before. Is there another hymn? No, no.
Do we have? Yes.
#40.
That's a nice 1 #40. Anyone not heard of this him before?
Oh, most of us have, So let's sing this.
Jesus loves me. This I love.
Yeah.
As much me.
The Bible counting so.
Dear silence smile.
True, and more than one.
Yes.
Please.
Just loves me the Bible.
Please be safe from every.
Arm. Yes, please. Let's make it.
Please, I love you.
Yeah.
Oh my God, who tells me so?
Jesus loves me, loves me still.
My favorite?
And now from here shining.
Oh my God, see where I lie?
Ask me some slow sleep.
Yes, yes, lovely. Yes it is.
So.
We don't want to keep ground staring blows, shapes hiding me all the way.
And I trust him to write. I want to take me on my mind.
00:05:10
Yeah.
That's loudly. Yeah. I love you, so I don't want to hear you.
For that is nice. Is there anyone else that would like to give one up?
What number is that?
I'm sorry #25.
I saw your hand.
#25.
Life at this is very brief life.
And what they will lie behind.
It can save you on your way. You can find gold together.
And your pride is up to the day to be the time.
Never respond to the behavior and beauty of our soul. Day all you have to stay.
In mind.
I'm considering to consider my wonderful.
That's conceal your whole pleasure to do.
Oh my friend, count the cost. There's a painful windy problem and your priceless soul devolved reading time.
Reading mind.
Million times.
Who I have no voice on Jesus Christ. You need time.
Let him send you all the way. You don't think I know? Let me get it. And you're crying because you may be.
In the mornings, make the morning behind these noise, let alone every other woman who rejoices.
Come and start for heaven tonight.
Behind.
Why all the boys on Jesus calls to give me in time?
00:10:07
Now I saw a hand up here and I missed it last time.
Did you have a favorite you want to sing?
Zacchaeus I don't.
We don't have the sheet and I'm not sure everybody know that one well. Is there another one you would like?
A little child of seven, A little child of seven. Oh, that's one of my favorite. That's number 42 now.
Some of you may know when we sing this hymn, I have a special rule.
The rule I have is we have the singles him twice except the second time around.
We're going to change the wordings a little bit because if you look at this room here, we have little kids of seven and he wants 7 here with children that are 7, right? Or even three or four. But then we have big kids here that are probably 70 or older, right? So the second time around, we're going to change this. We're going to sing a little child of 70 or even 34. So this would include, I hope, everybody in this room.
I know some here older than 70, but we will class you into that. So the first time we sing this, we'll sing it the way it is. The second time, we're going to sing about the little child of 70 or even 34. Maybe you can look across the room and see if we can spot someone who is 70 or someone who's 34. All right, OK, let's sing this together.
A little child upset.
Salvation.
Crazy.
Salvation.
Through the world. You know, when we come to Sunday school, we often think of little kids, don't we? Children come to Sunday school, But big children, big kids come to Sunday school too.
And we find it singing this hymn. How old do you have to be to receive salvation? Do you have to be 3 or 4?
7 Isn't it nice to think that this message is for all of us? So someone who could be 70 years old, you know, there are 70 years old out there who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior. It's sad, isn't it? You know, we used to visit the nursing home and we used to visit even places at home. We have a place called Seton House in the brother Bill here know that place well. This is a place where.
Well, at home we call the Skid Rd. I'm not sure if you have that phrase down here.
Where people are down to the very end, they they have no mean of supporting themselves. A lot of them are either drug addicts or Alcoholics. And they go to this hostel where there's a place for them, a warm bed and perhaps a meal. And we used to have the privilege to present the gospel of God's grace there. And we found there were men that are 6070 years old.
They don't seem to have.
Have been saved. But you know, one thing interesting was they knew a lot of them knew the gospel message. In fact, one of the favorite hymns for these older big kids. You know what the favorite hymn was?
00:15:08
They love singing Jesus loves me. Isn't it nice to know that?
When the word of God is presented, they remembered it when they were a child. They loved singing Jesus loves me because they know deep down Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so. But you know the difference boys and girls of just knowing it in your head and knowing in your heart could means life or death isn't it is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
That's why we're here. They have Sunday school is to present and remind you of the story. And you'll probably find that the story we tell today is the same one you heard last week and the week before. That is the old, old story for that old, old story. Is it ever new? The story of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who love me. Oh, he loves you too. He loves me, and he gave himself for me.
That's the story of God's grace, isn't it? Let's have one more, OK, Paul.
43 #43 Oh, I think this is nice too. One door and only one. Okay, one door and only one and yet in size are two. Fill in silent outside. On which side are you?
One door and only one hand near your side.
Inside, on which side are you?
Now, I think some of you have spent all week learning the verses, right? Who would like to say it for me? I think that's a really nice verse. OK, what's your name? What's your name?
Jacob, Jacob. OK, go ahead.
And what I'm going to do is I'm going to put this in front of you so they can hear. Oh.
OK, let's try again. Do so whatsoever.
So so so not written in the Book of Life.
Sorry, we can't until it's her revelation.
20 through 15. Very good, Jacob said. Anyone else would like to say that verse? OK?
Go ahead.
Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire, Revelations, 2015. Ah, that's good. Anyone else? Oh, whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast in the Lake of Fire, Revelation, 2015.
Hussar was not found in the written in the Book of Life, so it was cast into the lack of fire.
Roman Revelations 20.
21.
That's fine, Very good. Anyone else?
Hello and are you going to try?
Whosoever.
Was not found.
Written a book of life.
Was.
A lake of fire.
Revelations.
2015.
Would you like to try? No Would you like to try? Anyone else I missed that would like to try?
Well, any big kit would like to try?
I see a lot of smiley faces back there. Does that mean they say we want to say the verses? Well, I'm going to do something a little different. Excuse me?
00:20:03
Now there was a book. How many of you know what a book looked like?
Have you seen a book before? OK, what I'm going to do is I'm going to get a book out and I'm going to write the names of those who said the verses, OK? And it's going to go into my book. And I don't laugh when you see my book, though. OK, I've got a book here. Oh, this is a big book. You know, way back before they have these printing presses books coming as grow, doesn't it? Well, this is the closest I can get to us grow.
And this morning, when I saw that, I thought this would do as a book. Who can write? Who can help you write some names here? Can you? OK, I want you to write. I think Jacob said it first. Right. So we're going to write. Oh, I need a pad. Well, we're going to have to use a chair. How's that? Get up for a minute. We're going to write his name here. You write Jacob's name on there. He said his verse.
How do you spell that?
Jac.
OB all right, now you're going to write your name on it.
Danielle, now you're going to write Paul's name on it.
They set the verses you're going to write. What's your name?
You help them spell that.
A house.
Who else at the verses? Oh, and am I?
And OK, and you can do right, Emma, Emma.
OK, I think these are the I got a big book here and I got some names in this book.
This is my book of verses. Thank you.
And you know, I know some of you boys and girls are used to seeing books like in the Bible, right? And I'm sure if I look around and ask some of the big boys back, they've got these so-called electronics book, right? Those ebook. And I see them peeking in the meeting time and they they pull out the computer and they were able to read that. That's a book too, isn't it? And then some of them have a book on the cell phone. I see some of them use those reading pad on the cell phone. I see one back here that he can tilt it sideway and return and rethink sideways. Well, that's a book.
But God, God has a special book. What was that book that we just had in that verse there? It was written in. Oh, what was that?
Cameron, what was that?
What was that book called? The book of Life? The book of life?
Wow.
To get how do you get your name?
Into that Lamb's book of life, because there is some special consequences for not having your name in that book.
What was the consequence for not having it? Whosoever. Oh, wait a minute, that's a big word. What does it mean by whosoever? Do you know what that means? What does that mean?
That's a tough. That's a tough word, isn't it? Whosoever. What is it?
What do you think it means?
It means everyone. Is he right?
Yeah, wait a minute. Now who is the whosoever then?
There's another verse that use whosoever. Can you think of another verse that you use whosoever?
Let me think, oh, you know what that verse is? What's another verse that you know where the word whosoever in it?
That whosoever believeth.
In Ham.
How does that go? Hmm.
How did it go, Paul?
Should not.
I started in the middle. Maybe that's not fair. I think it should go something like this. Is that for God?
Yeah. How does it go? Can you say that?
For God.
So, umm.
That's a tough one, isn't it? Oh, you remember now? How does it go?
00:25:02
For whosoever shall love. No, that's the one I'm thinking of. For God so loved. Yeah. What is it? The world. Oh, the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's right. That's another place we find the word. Whosoever. It tells us that for God so loved the world. This is God himself. He loved everyone in this world.
That he would even give his only begotten Son. And the result of that is, He said, whosoever believeth in him should not perish. What does it mean by perish?
Oh boy, we've got so many big words here.
Have you ever seen anything that got perished?
How many of you, Well, let me tell you a little story. You know, I sold my car one one year years ago to this fellow who was a car detailer. What it means is he cleaned cars, he cleans it inside. And he called me back a few few weeks later. He said, you know, he said, I found one of your apples sitting in the back seat, all shrivel up and dried up.
Well, see fruit perish. Have you ever loved an apple sitting on the shelf or maybe under your bed, under the seat? You know what happened if you let it sit for too long? Have you ever seen that? It perished, doesn't it? That's why we call those things perishable goods. Well, it's that shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And you know I love this. Someone told me this one day. He said he saw this little boy.
Who had trouble walking? I think he must have cerebral palsy or something like that. He was able to walk, but he walked very awkward.
But he sat on his shirt. He said you know how you boys have T-shirt with writings on it right? And on the shirt he said I am whosoever. Isn't that nice? Whosoever that means me was saying that him too. Wait, that means me. That means me.
I am the whosoever, but in our verse we had very serious whosoever.
That includes.
The big boy that is 70 years old, the big girls that are 34 years old says whosoever. What? Oh, I forget that. How does it go? Whosoever, How does it go?
How does how does our verse go in our paper, whosoever what was.
Do you remember how that verse go?
Do you remember?
They wouldn't found something something about written in the book of life. What happened is they're not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Oh mine isn't it terrible if your name is not written in the book of life is that you'll be cast into the lake of fire and in that portion is that they found dead small and great. Oh, he said it will be cast into the lake of fire.
I said, how did we get our name written in the Book of Life? Well, I think we said that in John 316, didn't we? How did we get our name written in the Book of Life?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God made a way of salvation very simple, you know. See, he knows we are all little kids, even though we may be 35 years old, 34 years old or 70 years old, he said.
We got he said things have to be simple, one simple verse right Is it believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. There's not that much to do is there? Now you know, it's what's interesting is we had a book here. I didn't tell you why we write some names on the book.
There were some names here, right? This is my book.
This is my book. I can roll this up. By the way, for the young people. You know, when you read Revelation, is it a CEO is broken and then another CEO think of this. I could put a seal on this and close this book to open it. I have to break the seal. So that might help you understand that. You know what I didn't tell you was if your name were written in this book, I brought something for you. Oh, look at this. If your name were written in that my book of saying verses.
00:30:06
Let's open this.
You get to have something. Oops.
Just a minute now.
Thank you.
I should have. I should have done that beforehand, right now. Whose name was in that book? Let me see now.
I got Jacob's name in there. Jacob, would you like one?
I got Daniel on there.
I got Paul, I got Cameron and I got Emma. She was in the book. Her name was written in the book of getting seeing the verses and get candies. But you know, God is gracious. He always gives us another chance, doesn't he? So is there anyone else would like to try and say the verse and get your name written in there? Would you like to try?
You can try it.
Oh, I am the door. OK, that's good.
And what else? I am the door.
Well, that's part of a verse. So we can I'm going to have her daddy put her name in this book and his name in this book.
Without you and because her name and his name is in that book. What happened in my book though?
They get to have a treat.
You're welcome.
Anyone else would you like to try saying your verse? We can get your name in my book, OK?
Who, whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life, was cast into the lake of fire? Revelations, 2015. You know that verse very well. You were too shy to say it. Okay, Rebecca, you put your name in this book.
And how are you going to try?
He said it's on that.
And then the foot.
A life shall be cast into the lake of fire revelations.
4121.
Thank you. Are you going to put your name in the book too? You put your name in this book.
But wait a minute, they didn't say it right away. Does it matter?
They took three tries. They were the third one. They came in late.
Do they get this?
Yeah, the name is written in the book of Verses. OK, Holly.
Thank you.
Now, boys and girls.
This is only candies. This is only A roll of paper towel book.
But what's important is the Lamb's book of life. Is your name written in there? Have you, have you sins forgiven by asking the Lord Jesus Christ to wash your sins away? Remember, God loves you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, there's one more thought. We got a few minutes left.
You know, sometimes boys and girls who are safe, they have asked the Lord Jesus and they forget that the name is already written in the Lamb's book of life. They forget that. You know, I know when I was growing up, I doubted that. You know, I asked the Lord to forgive my sins over and over again. How many of you have done that? Many of you were afraid and we thought, oh, but you know, once we are saved, the Lord said He won't let us go. You know, I told this story before, but I thought many one day, and I'm going to tell this again, how many of you have seen your parents? Have you seen your parents? Got one of these?
Maybe it's a fancier one than this. We call that a clicker. I don't know why we call it a clicker. It doesn't click, right. It's a remote control for the car. Now, how many of you watch mom and dad as they leave the car? They push the button and the car go beep and then they walk a few feet further and they push the button again and go beep and then they walk further away until.
00:35:10
The remote gone past the distance doesn't beep anymore because you know, we feel that we push it a few more times and walk better, doesn't it?
The first time we locked it, but we lock it again. It does a lot better job, doesn't it? Well, you know, salvation is like that. How? How many times do we need to be saved?
Once He said He gave unto us eternal life, and He says that we shall never perish. He told us that no man can plug it out from his hand, and he said no man can pluck us out from the Father's hand. We have something so sure as we deem one. The Lord Jesus becomes ours. He is our Savior, He is our friend, and He will have us for eternity.
So if there be anyone I know this morning we addressed the boys and the girls, the little ones. But we have a big audience here, 70 or even 34. The Word of God is open to you too. And if you still found loss in your sins?
Now is the accept the time is to believe that Christ die for your sins.
And that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Don't be like those men that I told you down the Seton house who know of the way of salvation but did not accept it in our hearts. Because as I look around the room here, I see many of you. I see either. I know you, I know of you, and I know that I don't know of anyone here who you have never heard of the gospel message before. It's not just for children. It's for you too. Behold is the accept the time.
Behold is the day of salvation.
Let's have time for a couple more hymns. Who would like to sing couple more hymns?
Oh, before I forget, any little boy who were under 70 years old, a little girl who would like to say the verses afterwards. We have lots more. We can write an e-mail in that book too. You know, I went into the store last night and thought of that last night and I picked up one of these and I guess you folks down in the States here don't do what we have at home. It doesn't say how many in there. So I go, OK, I have no idea how many, so I want to have what, 5 bags just in case. So we've got lots of these M and Ms. here, but you got to get your name in that book.
All right, who has to him?
What number Holly?
That one number four, oh I think this is so nice hymn #4 Christ is the Savior of sinners. Christ. Now can you sing the next line Christ?
Is the savior.
For me.
Savior of sinners, Savior of sinners like me, shedding his blood for my ransom. This is the Savior for me. Hymn #4.
Christ is the Savior of sailors.
Christ is the Savior for me.
What I must change is not that nobody is grace. I am praying.
Sing our standards like it challenges one for my grandson.
This is my savior for you.
Now I can say, now I can. I'm pretty unjustified to me.
My grandson.
Business mistaken for you?
Ask. That's why I speak in front of me.
00:40:06
Now there is no time down there.
This is frustrating.
I'm not saying that you're on the cigarettes like.
This one for my grandson.
This is mistake accordingly.
What with all of that I'm hearing.
How shall I tell his brain?
Nervous saying nervous like me.
Now I need his blood flowing, his blood for my grandmother.
Let's look to the Lord.
A Voice from Heaven
Address—Lemoine Smith
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Called from above.
Here.
Where did you say God I have to play it all?
00:05:48
Couldn't help but think of some of the words in this hymn in the chapter we've had before us in the reading.
I was thinking of verse three, that image in man's lowly guise.
So many around didn't know.
Didn't know at all.
Who was before them?
And we had those words, if you seek me.
Let these go their way.
All that this son sees, the father do the son.
Marvelous, isn't it? What a wondrous person, our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we look to him in prayer.
I would like to turn to Genesis chapter 21.
MMM.
I've been thinking of.
Hearing.
A voice. Particularly a voice.
From heaven.
You know everyone of us in this room.
Like it or not.
We're going to have to do with.
God, we're going to one day face.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Because the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son, there's been a man in your world and mine.
Who has fully glorified God?
And wrought.
Marvelous work of salvation in his work on the cross, but.
I was thinking of that term. A voice from heaven.
In Genesis 21.
We get in verse eight that Abraham's son Isaac was weaned.
And verse 9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son. For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
The thing was very grievous and Abram's sake because of his son.
And Abraham and God said unto Abram, Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bond. Woman, in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child, and sent her away. She departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, and the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
And she went and sat down, sat her down over against him, a good way off.
As it were, a bow shot.
For she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept, And God heard the voice of the lad, and the Angel of God called the Hagar out of heaven.
And said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar?
Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, and I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an Archer, And he dwelt in the wilderness apparent, And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
00:10:26
There's many times that things.
Don't really grab our souls until we come to a crisis.
This was a very difficult time in Abraham's life.
Sarah.
Said cast out the bondwoman and her son.
For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And this thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of the sun.
So we have a father's heart.
Really torn.
It doesn't say in verse 12.
God said to Abraham. Here's the whole book of Galatians to explain what you're making a type of.
No.
This is written a four time for our learning.
But God comforts.
This man who's called the father of us all.
Verse 12 Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the lad, and because of thy bond, woman.
Verse 13 And also the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread in a bottle of water and gave it to Hagar.
Put it on her shoulder and the child and sent her away and she departed.
We marvel as we look at faith.
Don't we?
Dear young people.
Has there been a crisis in your life?
Where some portion of the word of God.
Comes to you so clearly.
It says the voice.
Of God from heaven.
You either have to make it your own.
In the face of crisis.
Or you might.
Have to go to a deeper crisis.
Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior?
He wants you to learn to be sensitive.
To the leading and the assurances of the Spirit of God.
We look at this woman, Hagar. Abraham had gone down into Egypt or Abraham, and he had.
Picked up an Egyptian maid.
You can say, well, it's not her fault.
Here we have the origin likely of the Arabian.
Millions of people today.
By this time.
Well, I may go back verse 14. You know, as Abraham got up, rose up early in the morning, what's he doing? He's responding to what God told him.
Action.
Because of words from God.
By this time if we look back at the scriptures.
Chapter 2.
Ishmael is about 15 years old.
Verse 15 The water was spent in the bottle and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
She went and sat down over against him a good way.
As it were a bow shot, for she said, let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him and lift up her voice and wept.
00:15:10
And God heard the voice of Hagar.
17 No, says he heard the voice of the lad. You ever been so thirsty your tongue was cleaving to your palate?
You just wish you had a drop of water.
It's a bit of a crisis.
God heard the voice of the lad.
And the Angel of God called Hager out of heaven, and said, What aileth thee, Hagar?
If you're not, let's go back to chapter 16, verse 6.
Hagar.
Was with child in this chapter expecting Ishmael?
And she despised Sarah.
She was proud she was pregnant.
And your boss wasn't?
So.
Sarah treats her.
Hardly. Verse 6.
And she runs away.
Verse seven. Danger of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness.
Nurse eight, he said, Hagar Sarah eyes made Whence came est thou? Whither wilt thou go? She said, I flee from the face of my mistress, from Saraya. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hands. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. The Angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shall bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael.
Because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.
And he will be a Wildman. His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
She called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God sees me, for she said, I have also.
Here looked after him that seeth me.
When we look at chapter 21 and God says Hagar, what a list thee.
She's expecting the death of that boy.
And she has forgotten.
The promise connected with him.
When crisis comes into your life and mine, and it will come.
Dear fellow believer.
It's a wonderful thing if we can look back.
To that which the Lord assured us of in the time passed.
It says in Romans 4 of Abraham, Abraham believed God.
We saw how he got up early in the morning and he took the bottle and he sent.
Hagar and Ishmael away. He believed God in the face of awful heartache to let go of that 15 year old boy and his mother.
Chapter 22.
We've had this before us in these meetings.
Verse.
One and two, we see God speaking to Abram.
Verse Two. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning.
We see the energy.
00:20:03
Carried out.
Obeying what God said.
We're all familiar with the story.
I love verse 5.
All the word of God is wonderful, isn't it? But to think that he tells his young men, I and the lad will go Yonder and worship, and come again to you.
He knew if he's called upon to offer Isaac, God would have to raise him up from the dead. But the promises were bound to that. Son, believe God.
How often I have to look back in my own life and say there's failures.
And I could trace straight to unbelief.
We have a wonderful.
God.
Now look in verse 11.
Here come the moment.
Of severe crisis and testing.
Testing his faith.
Isaac is bound.
He's laid on the altar on the wood. Verse 9. Verse 10. Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And it doesn't say.
That he held it over his head.
But this man is acting.
In the fear of God.
What a time to hear verse 11. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven.
Hager had heard a voice out of heaven.
Many times it doesn't mention out of heaven when God is speaking with Abraham.
Such friendship, wonderful.
But here it does.
And said Abraham, Abraham and he said here.
I.
Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son from me.
And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. What a provision this substitute. What a figure, Isaac.
And his father?
Going forth, how our hearts have enjoyed this wondrous figure.
Of Christ in his death and resurrection. Verse 15 And again we have and the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven.
The second time.
He said by myself, I've sworn, saith the Lord, For because thou hast done this thing, and is not withheld thy son, thine only son.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sandwiches upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Wonderful when we learn.
To heed.
Voice.
Out of Heaven, Deuteronomy chapter 4.
Moses.
00:25:04
Reiterating.
Something of the giving of the law.
Verse 10 Especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto thee.
Me gather the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may hear. Learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And you came near, and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire under the midst of heaven, with darkness and clouds and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you, out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only you heard a voice.
And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform.
Even 10 commandments and he wrote them upon 2 tables of stone.
Verse 36.
Verse 35 Unto thee it was show thou minest know that the Lord He is God. There is none else beside Him out of heaven. He made thee to hear his voice.
That he might instruct thee, and upon the earth he showed thee his great fire.
And thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. Let's look briefly at Hebrews chapter 12.
Verse 25.
See that you refuse, not him that speaketh.
For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, Whose voice then shook the earth?
But now he hath promised, saying it once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Whose voice then shook the earth.
We have read out of heaven. He made thee hear his voice, but it is as on earth. Let's turn.
Matthew, Chapter 3.
Matthew 3.
And in Mark one and in Luke three we get.
Very similar.
Verse 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God.
Descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
And lo, a voice from heaven saying.
This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. This was what John Baptist heard.
And if you.
Chapters later.
In another gospel perhaps.
He says.
Art thou he that is to come, or look we for another?
Here's a revelation, a voice from heaven.
That's why you and I, I know in my own soul. I want to know.
Voice from heaven.
It will always be according to the word, and it generally will be the word itself.
But John hears this and it's recorded in three gospels.
Let's turn to John, chapter 12.
This too.
We have had before us.
Let's start with verse.
23.
And Jesus answered them, saying, the hour is come.
And that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die.
00:30:06
It abideth alone.
If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Verse 27. Now is my soul troubled?
And what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.
Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
The people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an Angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me.
But for your sakes.
Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. So we've had a voice for Hagar.
A voice for Abraham.
A voice for John Baptist.
Here is a voice for the people.
What a tremendous.
Thing to have a voice from heaven.
Yet in our midst once walked a man.
Whose very words set forth.
Such riches.
Such truth.
Marvelous.
Let's turn to Luke Chapter 9.
Here we get the amount of transfiguration.
We're all familiar with it.
Verse 34 says while he spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud, and there came a voice out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son.
Hear him.
And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.
It doesn't directly say it's a voice out of heaven, but it's a voice out of the Shekinah glory under that cloud of glory.
Peter, James and John 3 witnesses of that glory.
If we turn to second Peter one and verse 18, Peter says we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty when we heard a voice out of heaven.
Marvelous.
To be jealous to hear what our God saying from heaven.
Turn to John, chapter 19.
00:35:03
Well, first.
Like to look at Mark 15, Mark 15 and verse?
34 we get.
A voice from Earth.
From the man.
Suspended between.
Earth and Heaven.
And in verse 33 it says in when the 6th hour has come, there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour. And at the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying Eloi lamas aback than I which is being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
What did he say to your soul when you were saved?
One of the things he says to every believer, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Marvelous. But here's this man.
Forsaken.
A voice to God.
John 19.
30.
We get his voice again.
We don't get the forsaking in John's Gospel.
That Lamb of God accomplished.
His death at Jerusalem.
But the voice we hear in verse 30.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he vinegar, he said it is finished.
He bowed his head.
And gave up the ghost.
Oh, what a voice.
That is to my heart and your heart as one who was lost in sins.
The atoning work is done.
The burn off ring.
Everything going up to the glory of God, it is finished.
In Luke 23 he says another thing. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Marvelous.
We could go to Psalm 22.
We could go to.
Hebrews 12.
The.
We read.
In verse two, a very well known verse.
Looking unto Jesus the author.
And finisher of our faith.
For the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
Despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What an answer. There's a man in the glory now.
Proverbs tells us a wise son maketh a glad father. Isn't that marvelous? What a son this was.
No equal.
Pure object for your heart.
In Acts Chapter 9.
We're all familiar with this very important story.
Of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
We've had, in the first few voices, voice from heaven.
In hours of crisis.
00:40:06
We have in John Baptist.
Voice from heaven, when he must stand as a witness against the sins.
Of God's people and calls them to repentance.
Here in verse three as Saul was.
Journeying near Damascus.
Therefore he fell to the earth, and heard a voice sing unto him.
Saul saw white persecuted stomach.
You know the light.
From Heaven was so great.
But this man saw, saw the Lord.
Or heard the voice.
What a crisis. He was bent on doing I'll to the church.
And here he finds out that the Church and Christ are one.
It's so important that you and I hear his voice. You could go to chapter 22. You could go to chapter 26 and hear this story reiterated.
And but Saul hears from a man in the glory.
But we had at first was not a man in glory, the Lord speaking to Abraham, to Hagar, and so forth.
But now you and I have a man in the glory.
And that man.
Is the one that is meant to occupy your heart and mind, to give a voice from heaven to each soul? Is there a crisis?
May arise in your life. Are you going to say I need a word from God for this situation? How wonderful.
Our time is gone.
You have a wonderful future.
Each one of us that have put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You have done so, haven't you?
Will it take a crisis?
To bring you to where?
You listened to a voice from the one that was risen from the dead and ascended on high.
Types of Men and Women in Proverbs
Submission, Whom I have Believed, Prayer